Thursday Opera Matinee

Series	Title	First Broadcast	Repeated	Description
AO3	Verdi - Oberto	20120517		Verdi: Oberto We're in thirteenth-century Italy where Count Riccardo is about to be wed to Cuniza. But as you might expect, there's a problem. The wicked count has form, and satisfaction is demanded of him by Oberto, the father of Leonora, the girl he has seduced and ruined. A duel is fought which leaves Oberto dead, Riccardo guilt-ridden, and Leonora in a convent. With its powerful choruses, striking ensembles, and rhythmic vitality, Verdi's rarely-heard first opera has many of the hallmarks of his later style. Presented by Katie Derham. Oberto....Michele Pertusi (bass) Leonora....Maria Guleghina (soprano) Cuniza....Ekaterina Gubanova (mezzo) Imelda....Sophie Pondjiclis (mezzo) Riccardo....Vater Borin (tenor) Chorus of Radio France French National Orchestra Carlo Rizzi, conductor.
AO3	Rachmaninov - Iolanta	20120524		Thursday Opera Matinee: Tchaikovsky's Iolanta In the mountains of Southern France in the fifteenth century, ignorance is bliss for Princess Iolanta: she knows neither that she's blind, nor that she is a princess, because no one's told her. But all that is about to change when her betrothed decides to marry another woman, an alternative suitor conveniently arrives and a Moorish doctor comes along with a blindness cure. Katie Derham presents Tchaikovsky's one act opera, written to be performed with 'The Nutcracker' and, like its companion-piece ballet, a satisfying work in its own right. Iolanta....Olga Mykytenko (soprano), Rene....Dmitry Belosselsky (bass), Robert....Dalibor Jenis (baritone), Count Vaudemont....Saimir Pirgu (tenor), Ibn-Hakia....Elchin Azizov (baritone), Almeric....Ladislav Elgr (tenor), Bertrand....Vladimir Baykov (bass), Marta....Svetlana Shilova (contralto), Brigitta....Rinnat Moriah (soprano), Laura....Victoria Yarovaya (mezzo-soprano), Arnold Schoenberg Chorus Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra Vassily Sinaisky (conductor) At approx. 3.35pm more from the BBC Philharmonic on tour: Rachmaninov: Symphony No. 1 in D minor BBC Philharmonic Gianandrea Noseda (conductor).
AO3	Debussy - Teseo	20120531	20120531 (R3)	Louise Fryer presents Thursday Opera Matinee, this week featuring Handel's Teseo, a story about the fate of the ancient Greek hero Theseus, who has returned in disguise to the city of Athens, ruled by his capricious father Aegeus. Both men are in love - or lust - with the same woman, Agilea. And so the drama unfolds as Aegeus tries to break his earlier promise to marry the sorceress Medea... Nicholas McGegan conducts a stellar cast at the Gottingen International Handel Festival 2011. After the first three acts of the opera today (you can hear Acts 4 & 5 tomorrow) there's more from the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra: songs by Debussy orchestrated by John Adams. Handel: Teseo, Acts 1-3 Teseo - Susanne Ryden (soprano) Agilea - Amy Freston (soprano) Medea - Dominique Labelle (soprano) Clizia - Celine Ricci (soprano) Arcane - Robin Blaze (altus) Minerva - Johanna Ness (soprano) Egeo - Drew Minter (counter-tenor) New York Baroque Dance Company Gottingen Festival Orchestra Nicholas McGegan (conductor). Debussy (arr. Adams): Le Livre de Baudelaire Ruby Hughes (Soprano) BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra Andrew Gourlay (conductor).
AO3	Strauss - Die Frau Ohne Schatten	20120607	20120607 (R3)	Richard Strauss Opera matinee: Strauss Die Frau ohne Schatten Acts 1 and 2 in this Salzburg Festival performance with the Vienna Philharmonic conducted by Christian Thielemann John Shea presents this week's celebration of some of the best of Austrian music making In the mythical land of the Southeastern Islands the Emperor captures a gazelle who assumes human form and marries him. But, in a symbol of her inability to have children, she has no shadow. It is decreed that unless the Empress gains a shadow before the end of the twelfth moon, she will be reclaimed by her father and the Emperor will turn to stone. Strauss and Hofmannsthal's opera, with its involved plot, heightened use of symbolism and generous passages of monologue has recently been enjoying the acclaim which many have felt it deserves. Calling for a large cast and orchestra and for frequent scene changes, it is difficult to stage in the theatre. but here receives a warmly received performance at the Salzburg Festival. Die Frau ohne Schatten (Acts 1 and 2) The Emperor (Der Kaiser) Stephen Gould (tenor), The Empress (Die Kaiserin), Keikobad's daughter Anne Schwanewilms (soprano), The Nurse (Die Amme), her guardian Michaela Schuster (mezzo), Barak, the Dyer (Barak, der Färber) Wolfgang Koch (baritone), The Dyer's Wife (Die Färberin) Evelyn Herlitzius (soprano), The One-eyed Man (Der Einäugige), Barak's brother Markus Brück (high bass), The One-Armed Man (Der Einarmige), Barak's brother Steven Humes (bass), The Hunchback (Der Bucklige), Barak's brother Andreas Conrad (tenor), The Messenger of Keikobad Thomas Johannes Mayer (high baritone), Rachel Frenkel, The Voice of the Falcon Peter Sonn, The Apparition of a Youth Christina Landshamer, A Guardian of the Threshold of the Temple Maria Radner, A Voice from Above Christina Landshamer, First Servant Lenneke Ruiten, Second Servant Martina Mikelic, Third Servant Hanna Herfurtner, Solo Voices / Voices of Unborn Children Christina Landshamer, Solo Voices / Voices of Unborn Children Lenneke Ruiten, Solo Voices / Voices of Unborn Children Rachel Frenkel, Solo Voices / Voices of Unborn Children Martina Mikelic, Solo Voices / Voices of Unborn Children Maria Radner, Solo Voices / Voices of Unborn Children Vienna State Opera Chorus Concert Association Members of Angelika Prokopp Sommerakademie der Wiener Philharmoniker, Stage Music Christa Schönfeldinger, Glass Harmonica Salzburg Festival Children's Chorus Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra Christian Thielemann (conductor) (Continued tomorrow afternoon). Richard Strauss Opera matinee: Strauss Die Frau ohne Schatten Acts 1 and 2 in this Salzburg Festival performance with the Vienna Philharmonic conducted by Christian Thielemann John Shea presents this week's celebration of some of the best of Austrian music making In the mythical land of the Southeastern Islands the Emperor captures a gazelle who assumes human form and marries him. But, in a symbol of her inability to have children, she has no shadow. It is decreed that unless the Empress gains a shadow before the end of the twelfth moon, she will be reclaimed by her father and the Emperor will turn to stone. Strauss and Hofmannsthal's opera, with its involved plot, heightened use of symbolism and generous passages of monologue has recently been enjoying the acclaim which many have felt it deserves. Calling for a large cast and orchestra and for frequent scene changes, it is difficult to stage in the theatre. but here receives a warmly received performance at the Salzburg Festival. Die Frau ohne Schatten (Acts 1 and 2) The Emperor (Der Kaiser) Stephen Gould (tenor), The Empress (Die Kaiserin), Keikobad's daughter Anne Schwanewilms (soprano), The Nurse (Die Amme), her guardian Michaela Schuster (mezzo), Barak, the Dyer (Barak, der Färber) Wolfgang Koch (baritone), The Dyer's Wife (Die Färberin) Evelyn Herlitzius (soprano), The One-eyed Man (Der Einäugige), Barak's brother Markus Brück (high bass), The One-Armed Man (Der Einarmige), Barak's brother Steven Humes (bass), The Hunchback (Der Bucklige), Barak's brother Andreas Conrad (tenor), The Messenger of Keikobad Thomas Johannes Mayer (high baritone), Vienna State Opera Chorus Concert Association Salzburg Festival Children's Chorus Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra Christian Thielemann (conductor) (Continued tomorrow afternoon).
AO3	Donizetti - La Fille Du Regiment	20120614	20120614 (R3)	This week's Thursday Opera Matinee is a performance of Donizetti's La Fille du Regiment given at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. The heroine of Donizetti's comedy is Marie, the 'daughter' or mascot of the 21st Regiment. She's in love with a hunky peasant called Tonio, but can only marry a soldier from the 21st. Natalie Dessay sings Marie, and Juan Diego Florez supplies the famous top Cs as Tonio. And there's a cameo for Dawn French in the hilarious spoken role of the Duchess of Crackentorp Plus today's Russian music is from the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra: a performance of Lyadov's 8 Russian Folksongs. Presented by Penny Gore. 2pm Donizetti: La Fille du Regiment Marie - Natalie Dessay (soprano), Tonio - Juan Diego Florez (tenor), La Marquise - Felicity Palmer (mezzo-soprano), Sulpice Pingot - Alessandro Corbelli (baritone), Hortensius - Donald Maxwell (baritone), A Corporal - Bryan Secombe (bass), Paesan - Luke Price (tenor), La Duchesse de Crackentorp - Dawn French, Royal Opera House Chorus and Orchestra Bruno Campanella (conductor) 4.10pm Lyadov: 8 Russian Folksongs BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra Stefan Blunier (conductor).
AO3	Donizetti - Gianni Di Parigi	20120621		Katie Derham presents Wexford Festival Opera's 2011 production of Donizetti's two-act comedy Gianni di Parigi. Wexford Festival Opera is renowned for staging rarely performed repertoire, and Donizetti is one of the most frequently performed composers at Wexford. In 1952 the festival produced the little-known Donizetti opera L'Elisir D'Amore! Gianni di Parigi, written in 1831, is still one of his least-known works. It is the fifteenth Donizetti opera to be presented at Wexford in its 61 years. It's a good idea to know the woman you're going to marry - and it's a clever woman who sees what the man's getting up to! The story of Gianni di Parigi derives from a popular 15th-century chivalric story about the French heir to the throne, the Dauphin. Although he is betrothed to the Princess of Navarre, they have never met. He wants to see for himself if she is really as good and beautiful as he has been told. He disguises himself as a wealthy burgher and insists on staying at the inn which the princess has reserved for herself and her entourage on their journey to Paris for her marriage. He bribes the innkeeper, commandeers the food and drink and asks the princess to dine with him. She sees through the plot and is well aware of his true identity, but she admires his enterprise and they fall in love. Thursday Opera Matinee Donizetti: Gianni di Parigi Princess of Navarra - Suzanna Markova (soprano) Il gran Siniscalco, her Seneschal - Alessandro Luongo (bass) Gianni di Parigi - Edgardo Rocha (tenor) Pedrigo - Alessandro Spina (bass) Lorezza, his daughter - Fiona Murphy (mezzo-soprano) Oliviero, a page - Lucia Cirillo (contralto). Wexford Festival Opera Chorus & Orchestra, Giacomo Sagripanti. Plus, at 3.50pm, another recent Mendelssohn performance by this week's featured orchestra: Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto Alexandra Soumm (violin), Ulster Orchestra, Howard Shelley (conductor).
AO3	Donizetti - Don Pasquale	20120628		Penny Gore presents a performance of Donizetti's operatic masterpiece Don Pasquale, recorded earlier this year at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris. This comic opera, which reportedly took the composer only two weeks to complete, tells the story of the ageing Don Pasquale and his doomed attempt to marry a young bride. Alessandro Corbelli sings the part of the Don and Désirée Rancatore plays his bride Norina. Afterwards, a chance to hear Anthony Marwood and Lawrence Power with conductor Ilan Volkov and the BBC Scottish Symphony orchestra in a performance of the young Benjamin Britten's Concerto for violin, viola and orchestra. Thursday Opera Matinee Donizetti: Don Pasquale Don Pasquale - Alessandro Corbelli (bass), Norina - Desiree Rancatore (soprano), Dr Malatesta - Gabriele Viviani (baritone), Ernesto - Francesco Demuro (tenor), The notary - Richard Tronc (bass), Radio France Chorus, French National Orchestra, Conductor Enrique Mazzola. 4pm Britten: Concerto for violin, viola and orchestra Anthony Marwood (violin) Lawrence Power (viola), BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Ilan Volkov (conductor).
AO3	J Strauss Ii - Die Fledermaus	20120705		Katie Derham presents Strauss's Johann Strauss II's evergreen operetta where Champagne, waltzes and memorable tunes ceaselessly flow -- and which features everything you'd expect in the way of jealous spouses, mistaken identity and a happy ending. Johann Strauss: Die Fledermaus Gabriel von Eisenstein....Kurt Streit (tenor) Rosalinde...Michaela Kaune (soprano) Adele....Daniela Fally (soprano) Ida...Lydia Rathkolb (soprano) Alfred...Rainer Trost (tenor) Dr Falke....Markus Eiche (baritone) Dr Blind....Peter Jelosits (tenor) Frank....Alfred Sramek (baritone) Prince Orlofsky....Zoryana Kushpler (mezzo-soprano) Frosch....Peter Simonischek Vienna State Opera Chorus Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra Franz Welser-Möst, conductor.
AO3	Thursday Opera Matinee	20120712		Penny Gore presents a performance of Donizetti's sparkling comedy L'elisir d'amore - The Elixir of Love - starring Juan Florez and Diana Damrau recorded earlier this year at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. To the usual operatic plot of the tenor and the baritone being rivals for the love of the soprano this witty score adds a wonderful comic bass role - Dulcamara, the 'quack doctor' whose magic potion (the Elixir of Love itself) causes a good deal of merriment and confusion. All ends happily, despite the moment when Nemorino contemplates Adina's 'furtive tear'... but that gives the opera its best-known aria 'Una furtiva lagrima' - Juan Diego Florez's New York performance of which was so good he sang it twice. Donizetti: L'Elisir d'Amore Nemorino, a simple peasant, in love with Adina - Juan Diego Florez (tenor), Adina, a wealthy landowner - Diana Damrau (soprano), Belcore, a sergeant - Mariusz Kwiecien (baritone), Dr Dulcamara, an itinerant medicine man - Alessandro Corbelli (bass), Giannetta, Adina's friend - Layla Claire (soprano). Metropolitan Opera Chorus & Orchestra Donato Renzetti (conductor).
AO3	Puccini - La Boheme	20120913		Anna Netrebko and Piotr Beczala star as tragic lovers Mimì and Rodolfo in a classic tearjerker for this week's Thursday Opera Matinee: Puccini's La Bohème, one of the highlights of the 2012 Salzburg Festival. Her tiny hand is frozen - starving, consumptive seamstress Mimì enjoys a few months of winter happiness in her Paris garret with the equally penniless poet-next-door Rodolfo, before the inevitable unhappy ending. Presented by Penny Gore. Plus another adopted Parisian - Frederick Delius - take the BBC Symphony Orchestra and conductor Andrew Davis climbing in the Norwegian mountains. Opera Matinee Puccini: La Bohème Rodolfo - Piotr Beczala (tenor) Mimi - Anna Netrebko (soprano) Marcello - Massimo Cavalletti (baritone) Musetta - Nino Machaidze (soprano) Schaunard - Alessio Arduini (baritone) Colline - Carlo Colombara (bass) Benoit / Alcindoro - Davide Fersini (bass) Parpignol - Steven Forster (tenor). Vienna State Opera Chorus Concert Association, Salzburg Festival Children's Chorus, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Daniele Gatti (conductor). c. 3.50pm Delius: The Song of the High Hills Olivia Robinson (soprano), Christopher Bowen (tenor), BBC Symphony Chorus, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Andrew Davis (conductor).
AO3	Massenet's Marie-magdeleine	20121004		This year is the 100th anniversary of Massenet's death, and today's Opera Matinee is a rare chance to hear his epic sacred drama Marie-Magdeleine, in a performance from Prague. The work depicts the events during the final days of Jesus' life, in particular his relationship with the title character, Mary Magdalene. That's followed by more from the BBC Symphony Orchestra, and today's Romantic piano concerto by Brahms's great friend Robert Fuchs. Presented by Jonathan Swain. 2pm Massenet: Marie-Magdeleine Marthe - Eva Drízgová (soprano), Marie-Madeleine - Barbora Polásková (mezzo-soprano), Jesus - Josef Zedník (tenor), Judas - Richard Haan (bass), Czech Philharmonic Chorus, Brno, Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, Vladimír Válek (conductor). 3.30pm Lutoslawski: Grave Paul Watkins (cello) BBC Symphony Orchestra Edward Gardner (conductor) Strauss: Das Rosenband, Op. 36 no. 1; Muttertandelei, Op. 43 no. 2 Elizabeth Watts (soprano) Jakub Hrusa (conductor) 3.50pm Robert Fuchs: Piano Concerto in B flat minor, Op.27 Martin Roscoe (piano) BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra Martyn Brabbins (conductor).
AO3	Puccini - Turandot	20121011		Opera Matinee Puccini: Turandot Presented by Louise Fryer. From the Les Chorégies d'Orange Festival 2012 we bring you a performance of Giacomo Puccini's Turandot, his unfinished swan song from the opera stage. Michel Plasson conducts the French National Orchestra with a cast led by Lise Lindstrom in the title role as the Princess of ice in search of a suitable husband, and tenor Roberto Alagna as Prince Calaf, her brave suitor defying fate. Also today, following our week's theme of Romantic piano concertos with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, a short gem: Alkan's Concerto da camera No. 2 with virtuoso soloist Marc-André Hamelin, under the baton of Martyn Brabbins. Turandot - Lise Lindstrom (soprano) Liù - Maria Luigia Borsi (soprano) Calaf - Roberto Alagna (tenor) Timur - Marco Spotti (bass) Imperator Altoum - Chris Merritt (tenor) Ping - Marc Barrard (baritone) Pang - Jean-François Borras (tenor) Pong - Florian Laconi (tenor) A Mandarin - Luc Bertin-Hugault (baritone). Orchestre National de France, Michel Plasson (conductor). 4.10pm Charles-Valentin Alkan: Concerto da camera in C sharp minor. Op. 10 No. 2 Marc-Andre Hamelin (piano), BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Martyn Brabbins (conductor).
AO3	Peter Von Winter - The Labyrinth	20121101		Penny Gore presents Peter von Winter's The Labyrinth, a 1790s sequel to The Magic Flute. This rare performance was given in the open air at the Salzburg Festival where it was mounted to commemorate the death two hundred years ago of Mozart's librettist Emanuel Schikaneder. It was he who provided the libretto for, and also directed, the early performances of Winter's 'heroic comedy' - a work complete with High Priests, a Queen of the Night, a spectacular battle with the elements, a glockenspiel and, of course, a jolly bird catcher. Peter von Winter: The Labyrinth or the Battle with the Elements Part 2 of the Magic Flute Sarastro - Christof Fischesser (bass) Queen of the Night - Julia Novikova (soprano) Pamina, her daughter - Malin Hartelius (soprano) Tamino - Michael Schade (tenor) Papageno....Thomas Tatzl (bass) Papagena - Regula Mühlemann (soprano) Old Papageno - Anton Scharinger (bass) Old Papagena....Ute Gfrerer (soprano) First Lady of the Queen - Venus - Nina Bernsteiner (soprano) Second Lady of the Queen - Amor - Christina Daletska (mezzo soprano) Third Lady of the Queen - Page - Monica Bohinec (mezzo soprano) Monostatos, a Moor - Klaus Kuttler (tenor) Tipheus, King of Paphos - Clemens Unterreiner (baritone) Sithos, his friend - Philippe Sly (bass-baritone) Salzburg Bach Choir Salzburg Festival and Theatre Children's Choir Mozarteum Orchestra, Salzburg Ivor Bolton (conductor).
AO3	Bizet - The Pearl Fishers	20121108		The Pearl Fishers given at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw in September with the Netherlands Radio Chorus and Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Michel Plasson. Charles Castronovo and Jean-François Lapointe sing the fishermen whose vow of eternal friendship is threatened when they fall in love with the same woman, Leila, sung by Annick Massis. And the Dutch ensemble theme continues with a performance of Haydn's Keyboard Concerto no.4 with Denis Kozukhin joining the Amsterdam Sinfonietta. Presented by Louise Fryer. 2pm Bizet: The Pearl Fishers Leila, priest of Brahma - Annick Massis (soprano), Nadir, a fisherman - Charles Castronovo (tenor), Zurga, leader of the fishermen - Jean-François Lapointe (baritone), Nourabad, high priest of Brahma - Nicolas Testé (bass), Netherlands Radio Chorus Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra Michel Plasson (conductor) 4.05pm Haydn: Keyboard Concerto no.4 in G, H.XVIII:4 Denis Kozukhin (piano) Amsterdam Sinfonietta Candida Thompson (director).
AO3	Rossini - Il Signor Bruschino	20121115		Katie Derham whisks us off to 'Rossiniland' for today's opera matinee: a zany production of Rossini's comic opera Il Signor Bruschino (Mr Bruschino) was one of the highlights of this year's Rossini Opera Festival in the composer's native city of Pesaro, Italy. Sofia and Florville are head over heels in love, but their parents are at loggerheads and Sofia's father plans to hitch her to the son of his old friend Mr Bruschino. Fortunately, nobody's seen said son for years - so Florville takes his place, and even fools the local police into believing him. Will he get the girl? There's only one way to find out - tune in at 2pm. Rossini: Il Signor Bruschino Maria Aleida (soprano) - Sofia Chiara Amarù (mezzo-soprano) - Marianna Andrea Vincenzo Bonsignore (baritone) - Filiberto Francisco Brito (tenor) - Bruschino junior / A Police Commissioner Roberto De Candia (baritone) - Bruschino senior David Alegret (tenor) - Florville Carlo Lepore (bass).. Gaudenzio Gioachino Rossini Symphony Orchestra Daniele Rustioni (conductor) Plus jolly ballet music by Elgar and Vaughan Williams' hard-hitting Fourth Symphony. 3.25pm Elgar: The Sanguine Fan (ballet) BBC Concert Orchestra, John Wilson (conductor). c. 3.45pm Vaughan Williams: Symphony no. 4 BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Andrew Manze (conductor).
AO3	Gluck - Alceste	20121122		Penny Gore introduces Opera Matinee: Gluck's Alceste, recorded live at the Vienna State Opera earlier this month. Veronique Gens and Joseph Kaiser lead a starry cast with Ivor Bolton at the helm of the Gustav Mahler Chorus and the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra. This is the 1776 Paris version of Gluck's Alceste, adapted by Ranieri de' Calzabigi from a play by Euripides. 2pm Christoph Willibald Gluck: Alceste Alceste, Queen of Thessaly - Véronique Gens (soprano) Admète, her husband - Joseph Kaiser (tenor) Evandro, a confidant of Admetus - Benjamin Bruns (tenor) High Priest - Clemens Unterreiner (baritone) Apollon - Alessio Arduini (baritone) Thanathos, an infernal deity - Clemens Unterreiner (bass) First Child / Coryphée - Ileana Tonca Second Child / Coryphée - Juliette Mars Hercules - Adam Plachetka Gustav Mahler Chorus Freiburg Baroque Orchestra Ivor Bolton (conductor).
AO3	Puccini - Il Tabarro	20121129		Louise Fryer introduces the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra's production of Puccini's Il Tabarro. Daniel Harding conducts the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra in this one-act opera by Puccini at the Berwaldhallen, Stockholm. The first in a trilogy of short operas by Puccini, Il Tabarro - The Cloak - is a dark passionate opera with a love triangle at its core and is set on a barge on the banks of the river Seine. Recorded just a few days ago and featuring an international cast, Paoletta Marrocu is Giorgetta, Lucio Gallo is her husband Michele and Thiago Arancam plays the young docker Luigi. At the climax of the opera the cloak reveals its dark secret. And at 3pm, live from the Ulster Hall in Belfast, the Ulster Orchestra performs music by Dvorak and Sibelius, introduced from the stage by John Toal. Puccini: Il Tabarro Giorgetta - Paoletta Marrocu (soprano) La Frugola (the rummager) - Ingrid Tobiasson (mezzo-soprano) Luigi - Thiago Arancam (tenor) Michele - Lucio Gallo (baritone) Il Tinca & ballad-seller - Niklas Björling Rygert (tenor) Il Talpa - Jeremy Carpenter (baritone) Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra Daniel Harding (conductor) c. 3pm Dvorak: The Midday Witch, Op.108 Ulster Orchestra Jac van Steen, conductor c. 3.20pm Sibelius: Lemminkainen Suite Op.22 Jac van Steen (conductor).
AO3	Mussorgsky - Boris Godunov	20121213		Katie Derham presents the Vienna Philharmonic with conductor Tugan Sokhiev in today's opera matinee: continuing the week's Russian theme with Mussorgsky's masterpiece Boris Godunov. There's something rotten in the state of Russia: Boris Godunov, sung by the Italian bass Ferruccio Furlanetto, is a ruthless Tsar who seizes the Russian throne after murdering the rightful heir. Can he enjoy the spoils of his crime? Mussorgsky: Boris Godunov Boris Godunov - Ferruccio Furlanetto (bass), Fyodor, his son... Stephanie Houtzeel (mezzo-soprano), Xenia, Boris's daughter... Ileana Tonca (soprano), Xenia's nurse... Aura Twarowska (contralto), Prince Vasiliy Ivanovich Shuysky - Jorma Silvasti (tenor), Andrey Shchelkalov, Clerk of the Duma... Eijiro Kai (baritone), Pimen, chronicler-hermit... Kurt Rydl (bass), The Pretender under the name Grigoriy... Marian Talaba (tenor), Varlaam, vagabond... Andreas Hörl (bass), Misail, vagabond... Benedikt Kobel (tenor), Innkeeper... Monika Bohinec (mezzo-soprano), The Yuródivïy... Norbert Ernst (tenor), Nikitich, a police officer... Sorin Coliban (bass), Mityukha, a peasant... Hans Peter Kammerer (bass), Captain... Alfred Sramek (bass), Vienna State Opera Chorus, Vienna Philharmonic, Tugan Sokhiev (conductor).
AO3	Delius - A Village Romeo And Juliet	20121220		In the 150th anniversary year of the birth of Delius, a rare opportunity to hear one of his most highly rated stage works in a recent production from the 2012 Wexford Festival. A Village Romeo and Juliet contains some of Delius's finest music, including The Walk to the Paradise Garden, and reinterprets a dark novella by the Swiss nineteenth-century novelist Gottfried Keller. Farmers Manz and Marti row over a patch of unclaimed land between their farms, whilst all is harmony between their grown-up children Sali and Vreli who fall fatally in love. Plus, at just before 4pm, another great setting of English words. Presented by Louise FryerDelius: A Village Romeo and Juliet Manz - Quentin Hayes (baritone), Marti - Andrew Greenan (baritone), Sali, Manz's son - John Bellemer (tenor), Vreli, Marti's daughter - Jessica Muirhead (soprano), The Dark Fiddler - David Stout (baritone), First Peasant - Jamie Rock (baritone), Second Peasant - Cozmin Sime (baritone), First Peasant Woman - Eleanor Lyons (soprano), Second Peasant Woman - Angharad Morgan (soprano), Third Peasant Woman - Catia Moreso (soprano), Gingerbread Girl - Iria Perestrelo (soprano), Wheel of Fortune Woman - Maria Miro (soprano), Cheap Jewellery Woman - Mae Heydorn (mezzo-soprano), Merry-go-round Man - Owen Webb (baritone), Slim Girl - Hannah Sawle (soprano), Wild Girl - Kate Symonds Joy (mezzo-soprano), Poor Horn Player - Daniel Joy (tenor), Hunchbacked Bass Player - Simon Robinson (bass), Showman - Leonel Pinheiro, Shooting Gallery Man - Thomas Faulkner, Second Bargee - Adam Gilbert, Third Bargee - Patrick Hyland, Wexford Opera Chorus, Wexford Opera Orchestra, Rory MacDonald (conductor). 3.50pm Hamilton Harty: Ode to a Nightingale Ailish Tynan (soprano), Ulster Orchestra, Steuart Bedford (conductor). Little-known fact: the 'Paradise Garden' is actually a pub.
AO3	Verdi 200: Un Giorno Di Regno	20130117		Verdi 200 on BBC Radio 3 Celebrating the 200th anniversary of Verdi's birth, Radio 3 continues its year long survey of all Verdi's operas. We continue the journey with Verdi's second opera, a comedy "Un Giorno di Regno" - King for a day. 27 years old, Verdi was commissioned at short notice by La Scala to provide a comic opera as a follow up to his successful first opera "Oberto". The first night at La Scala in September 1840 was also its last. The whole experience was a complete failure for Verdi, and he didn't try another comic opera till Falstaff in 1893, over half a century later. In the run up to the one and only performance at La Scala, both his children had died, and just 3 months before the opera was due to be staged his wife died too. Added to that Verdi was given a cast poorly suited to Opera Buffa, who couldn't make the comedy work - and it seems that it was in the performance that the opera really failed, although Verdi's state of mind and haste of composition cannot have helped. There are strong strains of Rossini throughout - the grand old man of Italian Opera, still alive but not composing anymore - and comic opera tastes had moved on and Donizetti was more the fashion - however Verdi sticks to the more old fashioned Opera Buffa style of a light male lead, Cavaliere di Belfiore, paired with a Soubrette , Marchesa del Poggio, adding the comic elements of the baritone pairing of the Barone di Kelbar and the state treasurer Il Signor la Rocca. However, there are moments of pure Verdi, and the promise of things to come (Nabucco was his next opera 18 months later.) This performance comes from the archives of Italian Radio, and it took place in 2001 in La Scala, Milan and was only the second performance there of the opera since the disastrous first night in 1840. A student production is not a fair description - the As.Li.Co. organisation (Associazione Lirica e Concertistica Italiana) has been training and promoting the finest young singers in Italy for many yearsand this features a young Fabio Capitanucci, recently Belcore in Donizetti's "L'elisir d'amore" at the Royal Opera House, and in "The Trojans" during the 2012 Proms, and currently featuring in Verdi's Falstaff in La Scala. And in the role of Edoardo, tenor Massimo Giordano, who is currently performing the role of Cavaradossi in Tosca in a run from San Francisco, through Berlin and coming to the Royal Opera House in March 2013. Throughout the year, as part of Verdi 200 there will be added features supporting the broadcasts, including podcasts and interviews, context and synopsis that will be available all year as part of Radio 3's unmissable guide to Verdi's operas. Louise Fryer presents. Verdi: Un Giorno di Regno Cavaliere di Belfiore - Fabio Capitanucci (baritone) Barone di Kelbar - Alfonso Antoniozzi (baritone) Marchesa del Poggio - Doina Dimitriu (soprano) Giulietta di Kelbar - Natalia Gavrilan (soprano) Edoardo di Sanval - Massimo Giordano (tenor) Il Signor la Rocca - Piero Terranova (baritone) Count Ivrea - Nicola Pamio (tenor) Delmonte - Alfredo Nigro (tenor) A Servant - Christian Senn Vasquez (baritone) As.Li.Co Chorus, Milan La Scala and Toscanini Foundation Academies Corrado Rovaris (conductor) Britten: Canticle IV - The journey of the Magi Op.86 Ben Johnson (tenor) Benedict Nelson (baritone) Chris Ainslie (counter-tenor) James Baillieu (piano).
AO3	Montemezzi - L'amore Dei Tre Re	20130124		Penny Gore presents Opera Matinée - a rare chance to hear L'amore dei tre re (The Love of Three Kings), a tragic drama set in the Dark Ages by Italo Montemezzi. Premiered a hundred years ago at La Scala in Milan, the work soon became an international success, remaining in the repertoire until the end of the Second World War. After that its blend of lush Italian lyricism, its Wagnerian use of motifs and a subtle orchestration owing much to Debussy were deemed to be out of step with post war musical tastes. Recently however, the opera has enjoyed something of a revival, as seen in this Warsaw concert performance. Stand by for two spectacular love duets and, as the drama reaches fever pitch, a dramatic strangling by an enraged king. The Opera Matinée is followed by orchestral music with the BBC Symphony Orchestra celebrating another centenary with Polish connections, in this case that of the composer Witold Lutoslawski, whose one hundredth birthday would have been tomorrow. Italo Montemezzi: L'amore dei tre re (tragic poem in 3 Acts) 2.30 - Act 2 3.15 - Act 3 Sara Jakubiak (soprano) - Fiora, Eric Barry (tenor) - Avito, David Pershall (baritone) - Manfredo, Nikolai Didenko (bass) - Archibaldo, Jorge Prego (tenor) - Flaminio, Magdalena Dobrowolska (soprano) - Young Girl, Anna Fijalkowska (mezzo-soprano) - Old Woman, Tomasz Warmijak (tenor) - Youth, Piotr Ronek (boy soprano), Warsaw Philharmonic Chorus, Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Lukasz Borowicz (conductor) Followed by 3.35 Lutoslawski: Concerto for cello and orchestra Paul Watkins (cello), BBC Symphony Orchestra, Edward Gardner, conductor. 4.00 Lutoslawski: Chain 3 Edward Gardner (conductor).
AO3	Chabrier - Le Roi Malgre Lui	20130131		Chabrier: Le Roi malgré lui Today's Opera Matinee is a performance from the 2012 Wexford Festival - a festival renowned for staging rarely performed opera. Emmanuel Chabrier's effervescent three-act opéra comique of 1887, Le Roi Malgré Lui (King in Spite of Himself or The Reluctant King), is packed with beautiful solos and duets, vocal pyrotechnics and fun, lively choral pieces. Musical highlights include a large choral waltz in Act II and a colourful polonaise in Act III but the plot is almost hopelessly confusing and complex. It's 1573 and the Polish people have elected a French noble, Henri de Valois, to become their king but the Polish nobles led by Count Albert Laski would rather have the Archduke of Austria as king, so they conspire to rid Poland of Henri. To add to the intrigue, Henri is also the heir-apparent to the throne of France and he dislikes everything in Poland - even the climate in Krakow is miserable - so he joins the conspiracy to overthrow himself. Almost all the other characters in the opera are wrapped up in intrigue of trying to overthrow the Prince who pines for France but who finally gives in and accepts his fate. The libretto is by Emile de Najac and Paul Burani, revised by Jean Richepin and the composer himself, after the vaudeville of the same name written in 1836 by de Jacques-Arsène Ancelot (1794-1854). Henri de Valois, 'King of Poland' - Liam Bonner (baritone) Comte de Nangis, a friend of Henri - Luigi Boccia (tenor) Minka, slave girl of Laski - Mercedes Arcurí (soprano) Alexina, Duchess of Fritelli and niece of Laski - Nathalie Paulin (soprano) Laski, a Polish noble, Minka's owner - Quirijn de Lang (bass) Duc de Fritelli, an Italian noble - Frédéric Gonçalvès (baritone) Basile, innkeeper - Thomas Morris (tenor) Liancourt, a French noble - Carlos Nogueira (tenor) d'Elboeuf, a French noble - Lawrence Thackeray (tenor) Maugiron, a French noble - Simon Robinson (baritone) Marquis de Villequier, a French noble - Simon Meadows (bass) A soldier - Colin Brockie (bass) Wexford Opera Chorus Wexford Opera Orchestra Jean-Luc Tingaud (conductor).
AO3	Strauss - Ariadne Auf Naxos	20130207		Opera matinee: Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos from the Vienna State Opera General Music Director, Franz Welser-Möst conducts his Vienna forces in Richard Strauss re-telling of the myth of Ariadne. But with typical ingenuity, Strauss and his librettist, Hugo von Hofmannsthal, combine the serious classical story with commedia dell'arte slapstick as high and low art vie with one another for the public's attention. This version of the opera, first heard in Vienna in 1916 contains some of the most Strauss's most beautiful music. Richard StraussLibretto: Hugo von Hofmannsthal Ariadne auf Naxos, opera Ariadne....Krassimira Stoyanova (soprano), Zerbinetta....Daniela Fally (soprano), Bacchus....Stephen Gould (tenor), Harlequin, a player....Adam Plachetka (baritone), Scaramuccio, a player....Carlos Osuna (tenor), Truffaldino, a player....Andreas Hörl (bass), Brighella, a player....Pavel Kolgatin (tenor), The Composer....Christine Schäfer (soprano), His Music Master....Jochen Schmeckenbecher (baritone), The Dancing Master....Norbert Ernst (tenor), A Lackey....Marcus Pelz (bass), An Officer....Daniel Lökös (tenor), The Major-Domo....Peter Matic (spoken role), Naiad, a nymph....Valentina Nafornita (high soprano), Dryad, a nymph....Margarita Gritskova (contralto), Echo, a nymph....Olga Bezsmertna (soprano) Vienna State Opera Orchestra Franz Welser-Möst (conductor).
AO3	Verdi 200: Giovanna D'arco	20130214		Opera Matinée, presented by Katie Derham. As part of Verdi 200 in his bicentenary year, this week's opera is Giovanna d'Arco, telling the story of the historic French heroine Joan of Arc. This semi-staged production, recorded recently in Graz, Austria stars soprano Maria Agresta in the title role and Jean-François Borras as Carlo VII, King of France. Carlo Montanaro conducts. Following the opera, the BBC Singers with Renaissance polyphony by Dominique Phinot, and the BBC Symphony Orchestra in a London premiere by Sally Beamish. Verdi: Giovanna d'Arco Giovanna - Maria Agresta (soprano) Carlo VII, King of France - Jean-François Borras (tenor) Giacomo, shepherd and father of Giovanna - Gabriele Viviani (baritone) Talbot, an English Commander - Josef Pepper (bass) Delil, a French officer - Robert Bartneck (tenor) Graz Opera Chorus ORF Radio Symphony Orchestra Carlo Montanaro (conductor) 4pm Dominique Phinot: Sanctorum omnium BBC Singers David Hill (conductor) Sally Beamish: A Cage of Doves (London premiere) BBC Symphony Orchestra Garry Walker (conductor).
AO3	Britten 100: Owen Wingrave	20130228		Britten 100 Benjamin Britten: Owen Wingrave Based on a short story by Henry James - to whom Britten had turned for inspiration in a previous opera, The Turn of the Screw - Owen Wingrave is a Jamesian ghost story at one level, and a pacifist response to militarism in general and the Vietnam War in particular. Owen Wingrave is the last in a line of a family of proud and glorious soldiers - portraits of his ancestors adorn the walls of his family pile. Owen is being tutored in the art of war by Spencer Coyle, who runs a military cramming establishment, ahead of embarking on a traditional career in the military. But instead of being inspired by the tales of his ancestors, Owen is appalled and vows never to join the army. Friends and family try at first to persuade Owen to change his mind. When this doesn't work, they turn on him and one by one reject him - even his intended, Kate. Owen's grandfather, General Sir Philip Wingrave, in disgust at his supposed cowardice, disinherits him. Only Coyle realises how much Wingrave spirit Owen is showing by refusing to back down from his principles. Finally, Owen is challenged to prove his bravery in his pacifism by spending the night locked in a haunted room - a room where a Wingrave ancestor beat his own son to death for refusing to fight, before killing himself. A terrible scream is heard... Britten's pacifism was such a deeply held conviction that it was instrumental in him leaving the UK in 1939 for the USA. He and Peter Pears experienced at first hand the shame and pressure to comply with the demands of his countrymen fighting the Nazis, so much so that Britten and Pears did return to the UK in 1942 (on a convoy in the middle of the Battle of the Atlantic!) and the two of them then went through the process of being declared Conscientious Objectors, where Britten had to present his reasons for not fighting. In his deposition to the War Board who decided such applications, he stated "The whole of my life has been devoted to acts of creation and I cannot take part in acts of destruction". Fast forward to the late 60's and with the war in Vietnam being in the news every day, it's not surprising that Britten should once again be drawn to this subject matter in Owen Wingrave. Britten originally composed the opera for television; this Royal Opera production from 2007 used a version for reduced orchestra by David Matthews. Presented by Penny Gore, who follows Owen Wingrave with well-loved music from another Britten opera, played by this week's featured orchestra, the BBC Philharmonic. Owen, the last of the Wingraves - Jacques Imbrailo (baritone), Spencer Coyle - Steven Page (bass-baritone), Lechmere, Owen's friend - Thomas Walker (tenor), Miss Wingrave, Owen's aunt - Vivian Tierney (soprano), Mrs Coyle - Elizabeth Woollett (soprano), Mrs Julian - Jennifer Rhys-Davies (soprano), Kate, her daughter - Allison Cook (mezzo soprano), General Sir Philip Wingrave, Owen's grandfather - Richard Berkeley-Steele (tenor), Narrator - Toby Spence (tenor), Students of Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School, Kensington, Members of the City of London Sinfonia, Rory Macdonald (conductor). 4pm Britten: Four Sea interludes, from Peter GrimesBBC Philharmonic, Yutaka Sado (conductor).
AO3	Ulisee All'isola Di Circe	20130314		As part of Radio 3's Baroque Spring, today's Opera Matinee is a rare chance to hear a performance of Italian composer Giuseppe Zamponi's Ulisse all'isola di Circe from Liege, Belgium. Written for Brussels in 1650 to celebrate the wedding of Philip IV of Spain and Mary Ann of Austria, the opera is about Osysseus' wanderings after the Trojan War, and includes many of the gods of Olympus. The opera was a great success at the time, but fell out of the repertoire. This performance was given in a performing version by Clematis, an ensemble which specialises in rediscovering unknown 17th century music. Presented by Katie Derham. Zamponi: Ulisse all'isola di Circe Circe - Céline Scheen (soprano), Ulisse - Furio Zanasi (baritone), Venere - Mariana Flores (soprano), Argesta - Dominique Visse (countertenor), Mercurio / Apollo - Zachary Wilder (tenor), Euriloco / Tritone primo / Statua Seconda - Fernando Guimarães (tenor), Nettuno - Sergio Foresti (bass), Giove - Matteo Bellotto (bass), Satiro - Fabian Schofrin (countertenor), Cappella Mediterranea Namur Chamber Chorus Clematis Leonardo García-Alarcón (conductor).
AO3	Verdi 200 - I Masnadieri	20130328		Giuseppe Verdi only wrote one opera specifically for London: 'I masnadieri' - 'The Bandits'. Based on a play by the great German dramatist Friedrich Schiller, no less, it had a triumphant premiere with the famous soprano Jenny Lind as the heroine before an audience led by Queen Victoria... and it's flopped ever since. Here's your chance to find out whether that fate is deserved, in a production from the Fenice Theatre in Venice. Presented by Louise Fryer. Plus, after the opera, motets for Holy Week by J S Bach's predecessors in the job of Cantor at St Thomas's church in Leipzig - as part of Radio 3's Baroque Spring. Thursday Opera Matinee: Verdi 200 Verdi: I masnadieri Carlo, elder son of Count Massimiliano - Andeka Gorrotxategui (tenor), Amalia, his beloved - Maria Agresta (soprano), Francesco, Carlo's wicked younger brother - Artur Rucinski (baritone), Massimiliano, Count Moor - Giacomo Prestia (bass), Arminio, the Count's servant - Cristiano Olivieri (tenor), Rolla, a bandit - Dionigi D'Ostuni (baritone), Moser, a priest - Cristian Saitta (bass), La Fenice Chorus and Orchestra, Daniele Rustioni (conductor). 4.05pm J Schelle: Christus ist des Gesetzes Ende BBC Singers, Conductor David Hill, Stephen Farr (organ). Johann Kuhnau: Tristis est anima mea
AO3	Verdi 200 - Otello	20130404		Verdi 200: Otello Verdi's great late Shakespearean masterpiece is set against the background of the Venetian Republic's struggles against the Ottoman empire. Appropriately then, this performance was recorded at the city's Teatro La Fenice. Gregory Kunde takes the title role of the respected moorish general in the Venetian army whose downfall is his jealousy. Lucio Gallo sings the manipulative Iago who is determined to destroy his nemesis and Leah Crocetto, Otello's loyal but doomed wife Desdemona. Verdi: Otello Otello, a Moorish general in the Venetian army....Gregory Kunde (tenor), Desdemona, his wife....Leah Crocetto (soprano), Iago, Otello's ensign....Lucio Gallo (baritone), Emilia, wife of Iago and maid of Desdemona....Elisabetta Martorana (mezzo-soprano), Cassio, Otello's captain....Francesco Marsiglia (tenor), Roderigo, a gentleman of Venice....Antonello Ceron (tenor), Lodovico, ambassador of the Venetian Republic....Mattia Denti (bass), Montano, former Governor of Cyprus....Matteo Ferrara (bass) La Fenice Chorus Piccoli Cantori Veneziani La Fenice Orchestra Myung-Whun Chung (conductor).
AO3	Rossini - La Scala Di Seta	20130411		Mozart: PiaThursday Opera Matinee: Jonathan Swain presents a rarely heard one-act comic opera by Gioacchino Rossini with a libretto by Giuseppe Maria Foppa: La scala di seta, The Silken Ladder. The performance was given towards the end of March at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. Rossini: La scala di seta Daniele Zanfardino (tenor), Olga Peretyatko (soprano), Laura Cherici (soprano), Bogdan Mihai (tenor), Pietro Spagnoli (tenor), Luca Tittoto (bass), Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic, Alessandro De Marchi (conductor). 3.30pm Following the opera, this week's featured orchestra, the BBC Philharmonic, returns with more music by centenary composer Benjamin Britten - a brand new recording of his only Piano Concerto. Plus songs by the Viennese composer Britten wanted to study with (but his parents and the Royal College of Music wouldn't let him): Alban Berg. And tomorrow you can hear the BBC Philharmonic back in Vienna. Britten: Piano Concerto, Op. 13 Howard Shelley (piano), BBC Philharmonic, Edward Gardner (conductor). Berg: Altenberg Lieder Ruby Hughes (soprano), John Storgards (conductor).no Trio in G, K496; Quintet for piano and winds, K452.
AO3	Honegger - Judith	20130418		Thursday Opera Matinee. With Louise Fryer. Honegger's "Judith". Honegger had great sucess in Paris between the wars with his 'dramatic psalm' "Le Roi David" - "King David" - and in 1926 he collaborated with the same librettist, Rene Morax, to produce another work that is half opera, half oratorio, based on the Old Testament story of Judith and Holofernes. We only hear Judith (mezzo Paula Murrihy) and her servant (soprano Marie-Eve Munger) discussing the deed of decapitating the barbarian chief Holofernes, so there's not much onstage action, but the sound world Honegger creates suggests far more... Plus complementary twentieth-century music from the BBC's orchestras. Honegger: Judith Judith - Paula Murrihy (mezzo-soprano) Servant - Marie-Eve Munger (soprano) Narrator - Liesbeth List Olivia Vermeulen (mezzo-soprano) Ani Sagsyan (mezzo-soprano) Ludovic Provost (baritone) Alan Belk (tenor) Netherlands Radio Chorus Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic Michael Schonwandt (conductor) c. 2.45pm Honegger: Cantique de Paques Marie-Eve Munger (soprano) Paula Murrihy (mezzo-soprano) 3.00pm Florent Schmitt: Psalm 47 Christine Buffle (soprano) BBC National Chorus of Wales BBC National Orchestra of Wales Thierry Fischer (conductor) 3.30pm Ravel: Sheherezade Clara Mouriz (mezzo-soprano) BBC Philharmonic Orchestra Clark Rundell (conductor) 3.50pm Stravinsky: Jeu de cartes BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra Ilan Volkov (conductor).
AO3	Verdi 200: Macbeth	20130425		Katie Derham presents the highly acclaimed 2011 Royal Opera House production of the first of Verdi's three Shakespeare-inspired operas. When witches prophesy that Macbeth will be made thane of Cawdor and eventually King of Scotland, they unleash in him a turmoil of anticipation and misery. But Lady Macbeth suffers none of her husband's uncertainty. She covets the kingship for him and is prepared to go to any length to obtain it. Verdi: Macbeth Macbeth - Simon Keenlyside (baritone) Lady Macbeth - Liudmyla Monastyrska (soprano) Banquo - Raymond Aceto (bass) Macduff - Dmitri Pittas (tenor) Malcolm - Steven Ebel (tenor) Lady-In-Waiting - Elizabeth Meister (soprano) Orchestra and Chorus of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden Antonio Pappano (conductor).
AO3	Thursday Opera Matinee - Wagner 200: Bbc Sso In Wagner's Tristan	20130502		Thursday Opera Matinee The BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra's epic journey through Wagner's Tristan and Isolde continues this afternoon with Act 2 - including the famous love duet, interrupted at its climax by Isolde's cuckolded husband (and Tristan's friend) King Mark. Their concert at Edinburgh's Usher Hall started with forbidden love, too, in Berlioz's music inspired by Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Plus continuing this week's twin themes of Stravinsky from the BBC SSO and twentieth century music influenced by older music in the choral works of Italian composer Ildebrando Pizzetti. Presented by Louise Fryer. Berlioz: Romeo and Juliet - Suite from the Dramatic Symphony BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Conductor Donald Runnicles. 2.25pm Wagner: Tristan and Isolde, Act 2 Isolde - Nina Stemme (soprano) Tristan - Ian Storey (tenor) Brangäne - Jane Irwin (mezzo) King Mark - Peter Rose (soprano) Melot - Andrew Rees (tenor) Kurwenal - Mikhail Pavlov (baritone) 3.40pm Ildebrando Pizzetti: 2 composizioni corali BBC Singers, Conductor Paul Brough. 3.50pm Stravinsky: Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra Steven Osborne (piano), Conductor Ilan Volkov.
AO3	Thursday Opera Matinee	20130509		Presented by Penny Gore Karl Amadeus Hartmann was one of the few German composers to emerge untainted by any association with the Third Reich at the end of the Second World War. Born in Munich, he was a committed socialist all his life which informed his every creative move. His opera Simplicius Simplicissimus was based on a 17th-century novel by Grimmelshausen about a young boy's reactions to the horrors of the 30 Years' War. This original chamber orchestra version was written in the mid 1930s, when Hartmann could see the threat of war very clearly on the horizon. Hartmann's teacher, the conductor Hermann Scherchen, provided much of the libretto. It opens "In A.D. 1618, 12 million lived in Germany. Then came the great war (...) In A.D. 1648 only 4 million still lived in Germany" Giovanni Antonini leads members of the Bavarian RSO from the recorder in Bach's fourth Brandenburg Concerto, and today's Beethoven Symphony is his fourth, the Adagio second movement of which so impressed Hector Berlioz that he claimed it was the work of the Archangel Michael. Hartmann: Simplicius Simplicissimus, original version Simplicius Simplicissimus - Juliane Banse (soprano) Hermit - Will Hartmann (tenor) Governor - Peter Marsch (tenor) Mercenary - Ashley Holland (baritone) Farmer - Kristof Klorek (bass) Captain - Michael Eder (bass) Narrator - Harry Peters Netherlands Radio Chorus Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra Markus Stenz (conductor) 3.35pm Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No.4 BWV 1049 Tobias Steymans (violin) Giovanni Antonini & Lorenzo Cavasanti (recorders) Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra Giovanni Antonini (conductor) 3.50pm Beethoven: Symphony No. 4 in B flat, Op. 60 Mariss Jansons (conductor).
AO3	Rachmaninov - Aleko	20130516		With Katie Derham. Rachmaninov's student opera 'Aleko' is effectively his graduation exercise, a tale of jealous love and life set in a gipsy camp. Its series of cameos won Rachmaninov Tchaikovsky's friendship (among others), and launched his career as a composer. Gianandrea Noseda brings it to life in his native country of Italy with the BBC Philharmonic, and a cast of leading Russian soloists. Recorded in the RAI Auditorium in Turin. After it, we hear the BBC Philharmonic - this week's featured orchestra - in a rapturously received performance given last year in Zagreb; Chief Conductor, Juanjo Mena, directs them in Mahler's epic Fifth Symphony. Rachmaninov: Aleko Aleko - Sergey Murzaev (baritone) Young Gypsy - Evgheny Akimov (tenor) Old Gypsy - Gennadi Bezzubenkov (bass) Zemfira - Svetla Vassileva (soprano) Old Gypsy Woman - Nadeshda Vassilieva (mezzo-soprano) Chorus of the Teatro Regio, Turin, BBC Philharmonic, Gianandrea Noseda (conductor). 2.55pm Mahler: Symphony No 5 Juanjo Mena (conductor).
	Afternoon On 3	20120503		Katie Derham presents a memorable performance of Elgar's oratorio "The Apostles," recorded at King's College Cambridge at Easter. David Wilson-Johnson is Judas, as Elgar would have it: "An apostle misunderstood." Elgar: The Apostles Ailish Tynan (Blessed Virgin / Angel Gabriel) Susan Bickley (Mary Magdalene) Timothy Robinson (St John / Narrator) Mark Stone (St Peter) Roderick Williams (Jesus) David Wilson-Johnson (Judas) Ben Sau Lau (organ) Philharmonia Chorus BBC Concert Orchestra Stephen Cleobury (conductor).
	Afternoon On 3	20120510		Louise Fryer continues a week of performances from Berlin with Acts 1 & 2 of Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg in a highl acclaimed production form the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra and Chorus conducted by Marek Janowski. Act 3 will be broadcast in tomorrow's Afternoon on 3. c.2.00pm Wagner: Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg, Acts 1 & 2 Hans Sachs....Albert Dohmen (baritone) Veit Pogner....Georg Zeppenfeld (bass) Kunz Vogelgesang....Clemens Bieber (tenor) Konrad Nachtigall....Sebastian Noack (bass) Sixtus Beckmesser....Dietrich Henschel (bass) Fritz Kothner....Detlef Roth (bass) Balthasar Zorn....Timothy Fallon (tenor) Ulrich Eisslinger....Tobias Ebenstein (tenor) Augustin Moser....Thorsten Scharnke (tenor) Hermann Ortel....Tobias Berndt (bass) Hans Schwarz....Greg Ryerson (bass) Hans Foltz....Kouta Rasanen (bass) Walther von Stolzing....Robert Dean Smith (tenor) David....Christoph Strehl (tenor) Eva....Edith Haller (soprano) Magdalena....Michelle Breedt (soprano) Nightwatchman....Matti Salminen (bass). Berlin Radio Chorus Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra Marek Janowski (conductor).

Series

Title

First
Broadcast

Repeated

Description

AO3

Verdi - Oberto

20120517

Verdi: Oberto
We're in thirteenth-century Italy where Count Riccardo is about to be wed to Cuniza. But as you might expect, there's a problem. The wicked count has form, and satisfaction is demanded of him by Oberto, the father of Leonora, the girl he has seduced and ruined. A duel is fought which leaves Oberto dead, Riccardo guilt-ridden, and Leonora in a convent. With its powerful choruses, striking ensembles, and rhythmic vitality, Verdi's rarely-heard first opera has many of the hallmarks of his later style.
Presented by Katie Derham.
Oberto....Michele Pertusi (bass)
Leonora....Maria Guleghina (soprano)
Cuniza....Ekaterina Gubanova (mezzo)
Imelda....Sophie Pondjiclis (mezzo)
Riccardo....Vater Borin (tenor)
Chorus of Radio France
French National Orchestra
Carlo Rizzi, conductor.

AO3

Rachmaninov - Iolanta

20120524

Thursday Opera Matinee: Tchaikovsky's Iolanta
In the mountains of Southern France in the fifteenth century, ignorance is bliss for Princess Iolanta: she knows neither that she's blind, nor that she is a princess, because no one's told her. But all that is about to change when her betrothed decides to marry another woman, an alternative suitor conveniently arrives and a Moorish doctor comes along with a blindness cure. Katie Derham presents Tchaikovsky's one act opera, written to be performed with 'The Nutcracker' and, like its companion-piece ballet, a satisfying work in its own right.
Iolanta....Olga Mykytenko (soprano),
Rene....Dmitry Belosselsky (bass),
Robert....Dalibor Jenis (baritone),
Count Vaudemont....Saimir Pirgu (tenor),
Ibn-Hakia....Elchin Azizov (baritone),
Almeric....Ladislav Elgr (tenor),
Bertrand....Vladimir Baykov (bass),
Marta....Svetlana Shilova (contralto),
Brigitta....Rinnat Moriah (soprano),
Laura....Victoria Yarovaya (mezzo-soprano),
Arnold Schoenberg Chorus
Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra
Vassily Sinaisky (conductor)
At approx. 3.35pm more from the BBC Philharmonic on tour:
Rachmaninov: Symphony No. 1 in D minor
BBC Philharmonic
Gianandrea Noseda (conductor).

AO3

Debussy - Teseo

20120531

20120531 (R3)

Louise Fryer presents Thursday Opera Matinee, this week featuring Handel's Teseo, a story about the fate of the ancient Greek hero Theseus, who has returned in disguise to the city of Athens, ruled by his capricious father Aegeus. Both men are in love - or lust - with the same woman, Agilea. And so the drama unfolds as Aegeus tries to break his earlier promise to marry the sorceress Medea...
Nicholas McGegan conducts a stellar cast at the Gottingen International Handel Festival 2011.
After the first three acts of the opera today (you can hear Acts 4 & 5 tomorrow) there's more from the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra: songs by Debussy orchestrated by John Adams.
Handel: Teseo, Acts 1-3
Teseo - Susanne Ryden (soprano)
Agilea - Amy Freston (soprano)
Medea - Dominique Labelle (soprano)
Clizia - Celine Ricci (soprano)
Arcane - Robin Blaze (altus)
Minerva - Johanna Ness (soprano)
Egeo - Drew Minter (counter-tenor)
New York Baroque Dance Company
Gottingen Festival Orchestra
Nicholas McGegan (conductor).
Debussy (arr. Adams): Le Livre de Baudelaire
Ruby Hughes (Soprano)
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Andrew Gourlay (conductor).

AO3

Strauss - Die Frau Ohne Schatten

20120607

20120607 (R3)

Richard Strauss
Opera matinee: Strauss Die Frau ohne Schatten Acts 1 and 2 in this Salzburg Festival performance with the Vienna Philharmonic conducted by Christian Thielemann
John Shea presents this week's celebration of some of the best of Austrian music making
In the mythical land of the Southeastern Islands the Emperor captures a gazelle who assumes human form and marries him. But, in a symbol of her inability to have children, she has no shadow. It is decreed that unless the Empress gains a shadow before the end of the twelfth moon, she will be reclaimed by her father and the Emperor will turn to stone.
Strauss and Hofmannsthal's opera, with its involved plot, heightened use of symbolism and generous passages of monologue has recently been enjoying the acclaim which many have felt it deserves. Calling for a large cast and orchestra and for frequent scene changes, it is difficult to stage in the theatre. but here receives a warmly received performance at the Salzburg Festival.
Die Frau ohne Schatten (Acts 1 and 2)
The Emperor (Der Kaiser) Stephen Gould (tenor),
The Empress (Die Kaiserin), Keikobad's daughter Anne Schwanewilms (soprano),
The Nurse (Die Amme), her guardian Michaela Schuster (mezzo),
Barak, the Dyer (Barak, der Färber) Wolfgang Koch (baritone),
The Dyer's Wife (Die Färberin) Evelyn Herlitzius (soprano),
The One-eyed Man (Der Einäugige), Barak's brother Markus Brück (high bass),
The One-Armed Man (Der Einarmige), Barak's brother Steven Humes (bass),
The Hunchback (Der Bucklige), Barak's brother Andreas Conrad (tenor),
The Messenger of Keikobad Thomas Johannes Mayer (high baritone),
Rachel Frenkel, The Voice of the Falcon
Peter Sonn, The Apparition of a Youth
Christina Landshamer, A Guardian of the Threshold of the Temple
Maria Radner, A Voice from Above
Christina Landshamer, First Servant
Lenneke Ruiten, Second Servant
Martina Mikelic, Third Servant
Hanna Herfurtner, Solo Voices / Voices of Unborn Children
Christina Landshamer, Solo Voices / Voices of Unborn Children
Lenneke Ruiten, Solo Voices / Voices of Unborn Children
Rachel Frenkel, Solo Voices / Voices of Unborn Children
Martina Mikelic, Solo Voices / Voices of Unborn Children
Maria Radner, Solo Voices / Voices of Unborn Children
Vienna State Opera Chorus Concert Association
Members of Angelika Prokopp Sommerakademie der Wiener Philharmoniker, Stage Music
Christa Schönfeldinger, Glass Harmonica
Salzburg Festival Children's Chorus
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
Christian Thielemann (conductor)
(Continued tomorrow afternoon).
Richard Strauss
Opera matinee: Strauss Die Frau ohne Schatten Acts 1 and 2 in this Salzburg Festival performance with the Vienna Philharmonic conducted by Christian Thielemann
John Shea presents this week's celebration of some of the best of Austrian music making
In the mythical land of the Southeastern Islands the Emperor captures a gazelle who assumes human form and marries him. But, in a symbol of her inability to have children, she has no shadow. It is decreed that unless the Empress gains a shadow before the end of the twelfth moon, she will be reclaimed by her father and the Emperor will turn to stone.
Strauss and Hofmannsthal's opera, with its involved plot, heightened use of symbolism and generous passages of monologue has recently been enjoying the acclaim which many have felt it deserves. Calling for a large cast and orchestra and for frequent scene changes, it is difficult to stage in the theatre. but here receives a warmly received performance at the Salzburg Festival.
Die Frau ohne Schatten (Acts 1 and 2)
The Emperor (Der Kaiser) Stephen Gould (tenor),
The Empress (Die Kaiserin), Keikobad's daughter Anne Schwanewilms (soprano),
The Nurse (Die Amme), her guardian Michaela Schuster (mezzo),
Barak, the Dyer (Barak, der Färber) Wolfgang Koch (baritone),
The Dyer's Wife (Die Färberin) Evelyn Herlitzius (soprano),
The One-eyed Man (Der Einäugige), Barak's brother Markus Brück (high bass),
The One-Armed Man (Der Einarmige), Barak's brother Steven Humes (bass),
The Hunchback (Der Bucklige), Barak's brother Andreas Conrad (tenor),
The Messenger of Keikobad Thomas Johannes Mayer (high baritone),
Vienna State Opera Chorus Concert Association
Salzburg Festival Children's Chorus
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
Christian Thielemann (conductor)
(Continued tomorrow afternoon).

AO3

Donizetti - La Fille Du Regiment

20120614

20120614 (R3)

This week's Thursday Opera Matinee is a performance of Donizetti's La Fille du Regiment given at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. The heroine of Donizetti's comedy is Marie, the 'daughter' or mascot of the 21st Regiment. She's in love with a hunky peasant called Tonio, but can only marry a soldier from the 21st. Natalie Dessay sings Marie, and Juan Diego Florez supplies the famous top Cs as Tonio. And there's a cameo for Dawn French in the hilarious spoken role of the Duchess of Crackentorp
Plus today's Russian music is from the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra: a performance of Lyadov's 8 Russian Folksongs.
Presented by Penny Gore.
2pm
Donizetti: La Fille du Regiment
Marie - Natalie Dessay (soprano),
Tonio - Juan Diego Florez (tenor),
La Marquise - Felicity Palmer (mezzo-soprano),
Sulpice Pingot - Alessandro Corbelli (baritone),
Hortensius - Donald Maxwell (baritone),
A Corporal - Bryan Secombe (bass),
Paesan - Luke Price (tenor),
La Duchesse de Crackentorp - Dawn French,
Royal Opera House Chorus and Orchestra
Bruno Campanella (conductor)
4.10pm
Lyadov: 8 Russian Folksongs
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Stefan Blunier (conductor).

AO3

Donizetti - Gianni Di Parigi

20120621

Katie Derham presents Wexford Festival Opera's 2011 production of Donizetti's two-act comedy Gianni di Parigi.
Wexford Festival Opera is renowned for staging rarely performed repertoire, and Donizetti is one of the most frequently performed composers at Wexford. In 1952 the festival produced the little-known Donizetti opera L'Elisir D'Amore! Gianni di Parigi, written in 1831, is still one of his least-known works. It is the fifteenth Donizetti opera to be presented at Wexford in its 61 years.
It's a good idea to know the woman you're going to marry - and it's a clever woman who sees what the man's getting up to! The story of Gianni di Parigi derives from a popular 15th-century chivalric story about the French heir to the throne, the Dauphin. Although he is betrothed to the Princess of Navarre, they have never met. He wants to see for himself if she is really as good and beautiful as he has been told. He disguises himself as a wealthy burgher and insists on staying at the inn which the princess has reserved for herself and her entourage on their journey to Paris for her marriage. He bribes the innkeeper, commandeers the food and drink and asks the princess to dine with him. She sees through the plot and is well aware of his true identity, but she admires his enterprise and they fall in love.
Thursday Opera Matinee
Donizetti: Gianni di Parigi
Princess of Navarra - Suzanna Markova (soprano)
Il gran Siniscalco, her Seneschal - Alessandro Luongo (bass)
Gianni di Parigi - Edgardo Rocha (tenor)
Pedrigo - Alessandro Spina (bass)
Lorezza, his daughter - Fiona Murphy (mezzo-soprano)
Oliviero, a page - Lucia Cirillo (contralto).
Wexford Festival Opera Chorus & Orchestra,
Giacomo Sagripanti.
Plus, at 3.50pm, another recent Mendelssohn performance by this week's featured orchestra:
Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto
Alexandra Soumm (violin),
Ulster Orchestra,
Howard Shelley (conductor).

AO3

Donizetti - Don Pasquale

20120628

Penny Gore presents a performance of Donizetti's operatic masterpiece Don Pasquale, recorded earlier this year at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris. This comic opera, which reportedly took the composer only two weeks to complete, tells the story of the ageing Don Pasquale and his doomed attempt to marry a young bride. Alessandro Corbelli sings the part of the Don and Désirée Rancatore plays his bride Norina.
Afterwards, a chance to hear Anthony Marwood and Lawrence Power with conductor Ilan Volkov and the BBC Scottish Symphony orchestra in a performance of the young Benjamin Britten's Concerto for violin, viola and orchestra.
Thursday Opera Matinee
Donizetti: Don Pasquale
Don Pasquale - Alessandro Corbelli (bass),
Norina - Desiree Rancatore (soprano),
Dr Malatesta - Gabriele Viviani (baritone),
Ernesto - Francesco Demuro (tenor),
The notary - Richard Tronc (bass),
Radio France Chorus,
French National Orchestra,
Conductor Enrique Mazzola.
4pm
Britten: Concerto for violin, viola and orchestra
Anthony Marwood (violin)
Lawrence Power (viola),
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra,
Ilan Volkov (conductor).

AO3

J Strauss Ii - Die Fledermaus

20120705

Katie Derham presents Strauss's Johann Strauss II's evergreen operetta where Champagne, waltzes and memorable tunes ceaselessly flow -- and which features everything you'd expect in the way of jealous spouses, mistaken identity and a happy ending.
Johann Strauss: Die Fledermaus
Gabriel von Eisenstein....Kurt Streit (tenor)
Rosalinde...Michaela Kaune (soprano)
Adele....Daniela Fally (soprano)
Ida...Lydia Rathkolb (soprano)
Alfred...Rainer Trost (tenor)
Dr Falke....Markus Eiche (baritone)
Dr Blind....Peter Jelosits (tenor)
Frank....Alfred Sramek (baritone)
Prince Orlofsky....Zoryana Kushpler (mezzo-soprano)
Frosch....Peter Simonischek
Vienna State Opera Chorus
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
Franz Welser-Möst, conductor.

AO3

Thursday Opera Matinee

20120712

Penny Gore presents a performance of Donizetti's sparkling comedy L'elisir d'amore - The Elixir of Love - starring Juan Florez and Diana Damrau recorded earlier this year at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. To the usual operatic plot of the tenor and the baritone being rivals for the love of the soprano this witty score adds a wonderful comic bass role - Dulcamara, the 'quack doctor' whose magic potion (the Elixir of Love itself) causes a good deal of merriment and confusion. All ends happily, despite the moment when Nemorino contemplates Adina's 'furtive tear'... but that gives the opera its best-known aria 'Una furtiva lagrima' - Juan Diego Florez's New York performance of which was so good he sang it twice.
Donizetti: L'Elisir d'Amore
Nemorino, a simple peasant, in love with Adina - Juan Diego Florez (tenor),
Adina, a wealthy landowner - Diana Damrau (soprano),
Belcore, a sergeant - Mariusz Kwiecien (baritone),
Dr Dulcamara, an itinerant medicine man - Alessandro Corbelli (bass),
Giannetta, Adina's friend - Layla Claire (soprano).
Metropolitan Opera Chorus & Orchestra
Donato Renzetti (conductor).

AO3

Puccini - La Boheme

20120913

Anna Netrebko and Piotr Beczala star as tragic lovers Mimì and Rodolfo in a classic tearjerker for this week's Thursday Opera Matinee: Puccini's La Bohème, one of the highlights of the 2012 Salzburg Festival.
Her tiny hand is frozen - starving, consumptive seamstress Mimì enjoys a few months of winter happiness in her Paris garret with the equally penniless poet-next-door Rodolfo, before the inevitable unhappy ending.
Presented by Penny Gore.
Plus another adopted Parisian - Frederick Delius - take the BBC Symphony Orchestra and conductor Andrew Davis climbing in the Norwegian mountains.
Opera Matinee
Puccini: La Bohème
Rodolfo - Piotr Beczala (tenor)
Mimi - Anna Netrebko (soprano)
Marcello - Massimo Cavalletti (baritone)
Musetta - Nino Machaidze (soprano)
Schaunard - Alessio Arduini (baritone)
Colline - Carlo Colombara (bass)
Benoit / Alcindoro - Davide Fersini (bass)
Parpignol - Steven Forster (tenor).
Vienna State Opera Chorus Concert Association,
Salzburg Festival Children's Chorus,
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra,
Daniele Gatti (conductor).
c. 3.50pm
Delius: The Song of the High Hills
Olivia Robinson (soprano),
Christopher Bowen (tenor),
BBC Symphony Chorus,
BBC Symphony Orchestra,
Andrew Davis (conductor).

AO3

Massenet's Marie-magdeleine

20121004

This year is the 100th anniversary of Massenet's death, and today's Opera Matinee is a rare chance to hear his epic sacred drama Marie-Magdeleine, in a performance from Prague. The work depicts the events during the final days of Jesus' life, in particular his relationship with the title character, Mary Magdalene. That's followed by more from the BBC Symphony Orchestra, and today's Romantic piano concerto by Brahms's great friend Robert Fuchs.
Presented by Jonathan Swain.
2pm
Massenet: Marie-Magdeleine
Marthe - Eva Drízgová (soprano),
Marie-Madeleine - Barbora Polásková (mezzo-soprano),
Jesus - Josef Zedník (tenor),
Judas - Richard Haan (bass),
Czech Philharmonic Chorus, Brno,
Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra,
Vladimír Válek (conductor).
3.30pm
Lutoslawski: Grave
Paul Watkins (cello)
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Edward Gardner (conductor)
Strauss: Das Rosenband, Op. 36 no. 1; Muttertandelei, Op. 43 no. 2
Elizabeth Watts (soprano)
Jakub Hrusa (conductor)
3.50pm
Robert Fuchs: Piano Concerto in B flat minor, Op.27
Martin Roscoe (piano)
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Martyn Brabbins (conductor).

AO3

Puccini - Turandot

20121011

Opera Matinee
Puccini: Turandot
Presented by Louise Fryer.
From the Les Chorégies d'Orange Festival 2012 we bring you a performance of Giacomo Puccini's Turandot, his unfinished swan song from the opera stage. Michel Plasson conducts the French National Orchestra with a cast led by Lise Lindstrom in the title role as the Princess of ice in search of a suitable husband, and tenor Roberto Alagna as Prince Calaf, her brave suitor defying fate. Also today, following our week's theme of Romantic piano concertos with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, a short gem: Alkan's Concerto da camera No. 2 with virtuoso soloist Marc-André Hamelin, under the baton of Martyn Brabbins.
Turandot - Lise Lindstrom (soprano)
Liù - Maria Luigia Borsi (soprano)
Calaf - Roberto Alagna (tenor)
Timur - Marco Spotti (bass)
Imperator Altoum - Chris Merritt (tenor)
Ping - Marc Barrard (baritone)
Pang - Jean-François Borras (tenor)
Pong - Florian Laconi (tenor)
A Mandarin - Luc Bertin-Hugault (baritone).
Orchestre National de France,
Michel Plasson (conductor).
4.10pm
Charles-Valentin Alkan: Concerto da camera in C sharp minor. Op. 10 No. 2
Marc-Andre Hamelin (piano),
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra,
Martyn Brabbins (conductor).

AO3

Peter Von Winter - The Labyrinth

20121101

Penny Gore presents Peter von Winter's The Labyrinth, a 1790s sequel to The Magic Flute. This rare performance was given in the open air at the Salzburg Festival where it was mounted to commemorate the death two hundred years ago of Mozart's librettist Emanuel Schikaneder. It was he who provided the libretto for, and also directed, the early performances of Winter's 'heroic comedy' - a work complete with High Priests, a Queen of the Night, a spectacular battle with the elements, a glockenspiel and, of course, a jolly bird catcher.
Peter von Winter: The Labyrinth or the Battle with the Elements
Part 2 of the Magic Flute
Sarastro - Christof Fischesser (bass)
Queen of the Night - Julia Novikova (soprano)
Pamina, her daughter - Malin Hartelius (soprano)
Tamino - Michael Schade (tenor)
Papageno....Thomas Tatzl (bass)
Papagena - Regula Mühlemann (soprano)
Old Papageno - Anton Scharinger (bass)
Old Papagena....Ute Gfrerer (soprano)
First Lady of the Queen - Venus - Nina Bernsteiner (soprano)
Second Lady of the Queen - Amor - Christina Daletska (mezzo soprano)
Third Lady of the Queen - Page - Monica Bohinec (mezzo soprano)
Monostatos, a Moor - Klaus Kuttler (tenor)
Tipheus, King of Paphos - Clemens Unterreiner (baritone)
Sithos, his friend - Philippe Sly (bass-baritone)
Salzburg Bach Choir
Salzburg Festival and Theatre Children's Choir
Mozarteum Orchestra, Salzburg
Ivor Bolton (conductor).

AO3

Bizet - The Pearl Fishers

20121108

The Pearl Fishers given at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw in September with the Netherlands Radio Chorus and Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Michel Plasson. Charles Castronovo and Jean-François Lapointe sing the fishermen whose vow of eternal friendship is threatened when they fall in love with the same woman, Leila, sung by Annick Massis. And the Dutch ensemble theme continues with a performance of Haydn's Keyboard Concerto no.4 with Denis Kozukhin joining the Amsterdam Sinfonietta.
Presented by Louise Fryer.
2pm
Bizet: The Pearl Fishers
Leila, priest of Brahma - Annick Massis (soprano),
Nadir, a fisherman - Charles Castronovo (tenor),
Zurga, leader of the fishermen - Jean-François Lapointe (baritone),
Nourabad, high priest of Brahma - Nicolas Testé (bass),
Netherlands Radio Chorus
Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra
Michel Plasson (conductor)
4.05pm
Haydn: Keyboard Concerto no.4 in G, H.XVIII:4
Denis Kozukhin (piano)
Amsterdam Sinfonietta
Candida Thompson (director).

AO3

Rossini - Il Signor Bruschino

20121115

Katie Derham whisks us off to 'Rossiniland' for today's opera matinee: a zany production of Rossini's comic opera Il Signor Bruschino (Mr Bruschino) was one of the highlights of this year's Rossini Opera Festival in the composer's native city of Pesaro, Italy. Sofia and Florville are head over heels in love, but their parents are at loggerheads and Sofia's father plans to hitch her to the son of his old friend Mr Bruschino. Fortunately, nobody's seen said son for years - so Florville takes his place, and even fools the local police into believing him. Will he get the girl? There's only one way to find out - tune in at 2pm.
Rossini: Il Signor Bruschino
Maria Aleida (soprano) - Sofia
Chiara Amarù (mezzo-soprano) - Marianna
Andrea Vincenzo Bonsignore (baritone) - Filiberto
Francisco Brito (tenor) - Bruschino junior / A Police Commissioner
Roberto De Candia (baritone) - Bruschino senior
David Alegret (tenor) - Florville
Carlo Lepore (bass).. Gaudenzio
Gioachino Rossini Symphony Orchestra
Daniele Rustioni (conductor)
Plus jolly ballet music by Elgar and Vaughan Williams' hard-hitting Fourth Symphony.
3.25pm
Elgar: The Sanguine Fan (ballet)
BBC Concert Orchestra,
John Wilson (conductor).
c. 3.45pm
Vaughan Williams: Symphony no. 4
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra,
Andrew Manze (conductor).

AO3

Gluck - Alceste

20121122

Penny Gore introduces Opera Matinee: Gluck's Alceste, recorded live at the Vienna State Opera earlier this month. Veronique Gens and Joseph Kaiser lead a starry cast with Ivor Bolton at the helm of the Gustav Mahler Chorus and the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra. This is the 1776 Paris version of Gluck's Alceste, adapted by Ranieri de' Calzabigi from a play by Euripides.
2pm
Christoph Willibald Gluck: Alceste
Alceste, Queen of Thessaly - Véronique Gens (soprano)
Admète, her husband - Joseph Kaiser (tenor)
Evandro, a confidant of Admetus - Benjamin Bruns (tenor)
High Priest - Clemens Unterreiner (baritone)
Apollon - Alessio Arduini (baritone)
Thanathos, an infernal deity - Clemens Unterreiner (bass)
First Child / Coryphée - Ileana Tonca
Second Child / Coryphée - Juliette Mars
Hercules - Adam Plachetka
Gustav Mahler Chorus
Freiburg Baroque Orchestra
Ivor Bolton (conductor).

AO3

Puccini - Il Tabarro

20121129

Louise Fryer introduces the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra's production of Puccini's Il Tabarro.
Daniel Harding conducts the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra in this one-act opera by Puccini at the Berwaldhallen, Stockholm. The first in a trilogy of short operas by Puccini, Il Tabarro - The Cloak - is a dark passionate opera with a love triangle at its core and is set on a barge on the banks of the river Seine.
Recorded just a few days ago and featuring an international cast, Paoletta Marrocu is Giorgetta, Lucio Gallo is her husband Michele and Thiago Arancam plays the young docker Luigi. At the climax of the opera the cloak reveals its dark secret.
And at 3pm, live from the Ulster Hall in Belfast, the Ulster Orchestra performs music by Dvorak and Sibelius, introduced from the stage by John Toal.
Puccini: Il Tabarro
Giorgetta - Paoletta Marrocu (soprano)
La Frugola (the rummager) - Ingrid Tobiasson (mezzo-soprano)
Luigi - Thiago Arancam (tenor)
Michele - Lucio Gallo (baritone)
Il Tinca & ballad-seller - Niklas Björling Rygert (tenor)
Il Talpa - Jeremy Carpenter (baritone)
Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra
Daniel Harding (conductor)
c. 3pm
Dvorak: The Midday Witch, Op.108
Ulster Orchestra
Jac van Steen, conductor
c. 3.20pm
Sibelius: Lemminkainen Suite Op.22
Jac van Steen (conductor).

AO3

Mussorgsky - Boris Godunov

20121213

Katie Derham presents the Vienna Philharmonic with conductor Tugan Sokhiev in today's opera matinee: continuing the week's Russian theme with Mussorgsky's masterpiece Boris Godunov. There's something rotten in the state of Russia: Boris Godunov, sung by the Italian bass Ferruccio Furlanetto, is a ruthless Tsar who seizes the Russian throne after murdering the rightful heir. Can he enjoy the spoils of his crime?
Mussorgsky: Boris Godunov
Boris Godunov - Ferruccio Furlanetto (bass),
Fyodor, his son... Stephanie Houtzeel (mezzo-soprano),
Xenia, Boris's daughter... Ileana Tonca (soprano),
Xenia's nurse... Aura Twarowska (contralto),
Prince Vasiliy Ivanovich Shuysky - Jorma Silvasti (tenor),
Andrey Shchelkalov, Clerk of the Duma... Eijiro Kai (baritone),
Pimen, chronicler-hermit... Kurt Rydl (bass),
The Pretender under the name Grigoriy... Marian Talaba (tenor),
Varlaam, vagabond... Andreas Hörl (bass),
Misail, vagabond... Benedikt Kobel (tenor),
Innkeeper... Monika Bohinec (mezzo-soprano),
The Yuródivïy... Norbert Ernst (tenor),
Nikitich, a police officer... Sorin Coliban (bass),
Mityukha, a peasant... Hans Peter Kammerer (bass),
Captain... Alfred Sramek (bass),
Vienna State Opera Chorus,
Vienna Philharmonic,
Tugan Sokhiev (conductor).

AO3

Delius - A Village Romeo And Juliet

20121220

In the 150th anniversary year of the birth of Delius, a rare opportunity to hear one of his most highly rated stage works in a recent production from the 2012 Wexford Festival. A Village Romeo and Juliet contains some of Delius's finest music, including The Walk to the Paradise Garden, and reinterprets a dark novella by the Swiss nineteenth-century novelist Gottfried Keller. Farmers Manz and Marti row over a patch of unclaimed land between their farms, whilst all is harmony between their grown-up children Sali and Vreli who fall fatally in love. Plus, at just before 4pm, another great setting of English words.
Presented by Louise FryerDelius: A Village Romeo and Juliet
Manz - Quentin Hayes (baritone),
Marti - Andrew Greenan (baritone),
Sali, Manz's son - John Bellemer (tenor),
Vreli, Marti's daughter - Jessica Muirhead (soprano),
The Dark Fiddler - David Stout (baritone),
First Peasant - Jamie Rock (baritone),
Second Peasant - Cozmin Sime (baritone),
First Peasant Woman - Eleanor Lyons (soprano),
Second Peasant Woman - Angharad Morgan (soprano),
Third Peasant Woman - Catia Moreso (soprano),
Gingerbread Girl - Iria Perestrelo (soprano),
Wheel of Fortune Woman - Maria Miro (soprano),
Cheap Jewellery Woman - Mae Heydorn (mezzo-soprano),
Merry-go-round Man - Owen Webb (baritone),
Slim Girl - Hannah Sawle (soprano),
Wild Girl - Kate Symonds Joy (mezzo-soprano),
Poor Horn Player - Daniel Joy (tenor),
Hunchbacked Bass Player - Simon Robinson (bass),
Showman - Leonel Pinheiro,
Shooting Gallery Man - Thomas Faulkner,
Second Bargee - Adam Gilbert,
Third Bargee - Patrick Hyland,
Wexford Opera Chorus,
Wexford Opera Orchestra,
Rory MacDonald (conductor).
3.50pm
Hamilton Harty: Ode to a Nightingale
Ailish Tynan (soprano),
Ulster Orchestra,
Steuart Bedford (conductor).
Little-known fact: the 'Paradise Garden' is actually a pub.

AO3

Verdi 200: Un Giorno Di Regno

20130117

Verdi 200 on BBC Radio 3
Celebrating the 200th anniversary of Verdi's birth, Radio 3 continues its year long survey of all Verdi's operas.
We continue the journey with Verdi's second opera, a comedy "Un Giorno di Regno" - King for a day.
27 years old, Verdi was commissioned at short notice by La Scala to provide a comic opera as a follow up to his successful first opera "Oberto". The first night at La Scala in September 1840 was also its last. The whole experience was a complete failure for Verdi, and he didn't try another comic opera till Falstaff in 1893, over half a century later.
In the run up to the one and only performance at La Scala, both his children had died, and just 3 months before the opera was due to be staged his wife died too. Added to that Verdi was given a cast poorly suited to Opera Buffa, who couldn't make the comedy work - and it seems that it was in the performance that the opera really failed, although Verdi's state of mind and haste of composition cannot have helped.
There are strong strains of Rossini throughout - the grand old man of Italian Opera, still alive but not composing anymore - and comic opera tastes had moved on and Donizetti was more the fashion - however Verdi sticks to the more old fashioned Opera Buffa style of a light male lead, Cavaliere di Belfiore, paired with a Soubrette , Marchesa del Poggio, adding the comic elements of the baritone pairing of the Barone di Kelbar and the state treasurer Il Signor la Rocca. However, there are moments of pure Verdi, and the promise of things to come (Nabucco was his next opera 18 months later.)
This performance comes from the archives of Italian Radio, and it took place in 2001 in La Scala, Milan and was only the second performance there of the opera since the disastrous first night in 1840. A student production is not a fair description - the As.Li.Co. organisation (Associazione Lirica e Concertistica Italiana) has been training and promoting the finest young singers in Italy for many yearsand this features a young Fabio Capitanucci, recently Belcore in Donizetti's "L'elisir d'amore" at the Royal Opera House, and in "The Trojans" during the 2012 Proms, and currently featuring in Verdi's Falstaff in La Scala. And in the role of Edoardo, tenor Massimo Giordano, who is currently performing the role of Cavaradossi in Tosca in a run from San Francisco, through Berlin and coming to the Royal Opera House in March 2013.
Throughout the year, as part of Verdi 200 there will be added features supporting the broadcasts, including podcasts and interviews, context and synopsis that will be available all year as part of Radio 3's unmissable guide to Verdi's operas.
Louise Fryer presents.
Verdi: Un Giorno di Regno
Cavaliere di Belfiore - Fabio Capitanucci (baritone)
Barone di Kelbar - Alfonso Antoniozzi (baritone)
Marchesa del Poggio - Doina Dimitriu (soprano)
Giulietta di Kelbar - Natalia Gavrilan (soprano)
Edoardo di Sanval - Massimo Giordano (tenor)
Il Signor la Rocca - Piero Terranova (baritone)
Count Ivrea - Nicola Pamio (tenor)
Delmonte - Alfredo Nigro (tenor)
A Servant - Christian Senn Vasquez (baritone)
As.Li.Co Chorus, Milan
La Scala and Toscanini Foundation Academies
Corrado Rovaris (conductor)
Britten: Canticle IV - The journey of the Magi Op.86
Ben Johnson (tenor)
Benedict Nelson (baritone)
Chris Ainslie (counter-tenor)
James Baillieu (piano).

AO3

Montemezzi - L'amore Dei Tre Re

20130124

Penny Gore presents Opera Matinée - a rare chance to hear L'amore dei tre re (The Love of Three Kings), a tragic drama set in the Dark Ages by Italo Montemezzi. Premiered a hundred years ago at La Scala in Milan, the work soon became an international success, remaining in the repertoire until the end of the Second World War. After that its blend of lush Italian lyricism, its Wagnerian use of motifs and a subtle orchestration owing much to Debussy were deemed to be out of step with post war musical tastes. Recently however, the opera has enjoyed something of a revival, as seen in this Warsaw concert performance. Stand by for two spectacular love duets and, as the drama reaches fever pitch, a dramatic strangling by an enraged king.
The Opera Matinée is followed by orchestral music with the BBC Symphony Orchestra celebrating another centenary with Polish connections, in this case that of the composer Witold Lutoslawski, whose one hundredth birthday would have been tomorrow.
Italo Montemezzi: L'amore dei tre re (tragic poem in 3 Acts)
2.30 - Act 2
3.15 - Act 3
Sara Jakubiak (soprano) - Fiora,
Eric Barry (tenor) - Avito,
David Pershall (baritone) - Manfredo,
Nikolai Didenko (bass) - Archibaldo,
Jorge Prego (tenor) - Flaminio,
Magdalena Dobrowolska (soprano) - Young Girl,
Anna Fijalkowska (mezzo-soprano) - Old Woman,
Tomasz Warmijak (tenor) - Youth,
Piotr Ronek (boy soprano),
Warsaw Philharmonic Chorus,
Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra,
Lukasz Borowicz (conductor)
Followed by
3.35
Lutoslawski: Concerto for cello and orchestra
Paul Watkins (cello),
BBC Symphony Orchestra,
Edward Gardner, conductor.
4.00
Lutoslawski: Chain 3
Edward Gardner (conductor).

AO3

Chabrier - Le Roi Malgre Lui

20130131

Chabrier: Le Roi malgré lui
Today's Opera Matinee is a performance from the 2012 Wexford Festival - a festival renowned for staging rarely performed opera. Emmanuel Chabrier's effervescent three-act opéra comique of 1887, Le Roi Malgré Lui (King in Spite of Himself or The Reluctant King), is packed with beautiful solos and duets, vocal pyrotechnics and fun, lively choral pieces. Musical highlights include a large choral waltz in Act II and a colourful polonaise in Act III but the plot is almost hopelessly confusing and complex.
It's 1573 and the Polish people have elected a French noble, Henri de Valois, to become their king but the Polish nobles led by Count Albert Laski would rather have the Archduke of Austria as king, so they conspire to rid Poland of Henri. To add to the intrigue, Henri is also the heir-apparent to the throne of France and he dislikes everything in Poland - even the climate in Krakow is miserable - so he joins the conspiracy to overthrow himself. Almost all the other characters in the opera are wrapped up in intrigue of trying to overthrow the Prince who pines for France but who finally gives in and accepts his fate.
The libretto is by Emile de Najac and Paul Burani, revised by Jean Richepin and the composer himself, after the vaudeville of the same name written in 1836 by de Jacques-Arsène Ancelot (1794-1854).
Henri de Valois, 'King of Poland' - Liam Bonner (baritone)
Comte de Nangis, a friend of Henri - Luigi Boccia (tenor)
Minka, slave girl of Laski - Mercedes Arcurí (soprano)
Alexina, Duchess of Fritelli and niece of Laski - Nathalie Paulin (soprano)
Laski, a Polish noble, Minka's owner - Quirijn de Lang (bass)
Duc de Fritelli, an Italian noble - Frédéric Gonçalvès (baritone)
Basile, innkeeper - Thomas Morris (tenor)
Liancourt, a French noble - Carlos Nogueira (tenor)
d'Elboeuf, a French noble - Lawrence Thackeray (tenor)
Maugiron, a French noble - Simon Robinson (baritone)
Marquis de Villequier, a French noble - Simon Meadows (bass)
A soldier - Colin Brockie (bass)
Wexford Opera Chorus
Wexford Opera Orchestra
Jean-Luc Tingaud (conductor).

AO3

Strauss - Ariadne Auf Naxos

20130207

Opera matinee: Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos from the Vienna State Opera
General Music Director, Franz Welser-Möst conducts his Vienna forces in Richard Strauss re-telling of the myth of Ariadne. But with typical ingenuity, Strauss and his librettist, Hugo von Hofmannsthal, combine the serious classical story with commedia dell'arte slapstick as high and low art vie with one another for the public's attention. This version of the opera, first heard in Vienna in 1916 contains some of the most Strauss's most beautiful music.
Richard StraussLibretto: Hugo von Hofmannsthal
Ariadne auf Naxos, opera
Ariadne....Krassimira Stoyanova (soprano),
Zerbinetta....Daniela Fally (soprano),
Bacchus....Stephen Gould (tenor),
Harlequin, a player....Adam Plachetka (baritone),
Scaramuccio, a player....Carlos Osuna (tenor),
Truffaldino, a player....Andreas Hörl (bass),
Brighella, a player....Pavel Kolgatin (tenor),
The Composer....Christine Schäfer (soprano),
His Music Master....Jochen Schmeckenbecher (baritone),
The Dancing Master....Norbert Ernst (tenor),
A Lackey....Marcus Pelz (bass),
An Officer....Daniel Lökös (tenor),
The Major-Domo....Peter Matic (spoken role),
Naiad, a nymph....Valentina Nafornita (high soprano),
Dryad, a nymph....Margarita Gritskova (contralto),
Echo, a nymph....Olga Bezsmertna (soprano)
Vienna State Opera Orchestra
Franz Welser-Möst (conductor).

AO3

Verdi 200: Giovanna D'arco

20130214

Opera Matinée, presented by Katie Derham. As part of Verdi 200 in his bicentenary year, this week's opera is Giovanna d'Arco, telling the story of the historic French heroine Joan of Arc. This semi-staged production, recorded recently in Graz, Austria stars soprano Maria Agresta in the title role and Jean-François Borras as Carlo VII, King of France. Carlo Montanaro conducts.
Following the opera, the BBC Singers with Renaissance polyphony by Dominique Phinot, and the BBC Symphony Orchestra in a London premiere by Sally Beamish.
Verdi: Giovanna d'Arco
Giovanna - Maria Agresta (soprano)
Carlo VII, King of France - Jean-François Borras (tenor)
Giacomo, shepherd and father of Giovanna - Gabriele Viviani (baritone)
Talbot, an English Commander - Josef Pepper (bass)
Delil, a French officer - Robert Bartneck (tenor)
Graz Opera Chorus
ORF Radio Symphony Orchestra
Carlo Montanaro (conductor)
4pm
Dominique Phinot: Sanctorum omnium
BBC Singers
David Hill (conductor)
Sally Beamish: A Cage of Doves (London premiere)
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Garry Walker (conductor).

AO3

Britten 100: Owen Wingrave

20130228

Britten 100
Benjamin Britten: Owen Wingrave
Based on a short story by Henry James - to whom Britten had turned for inspiration in a previous opera, The Turn of the Screw - Owen Wingrave is a Jamesian ghost story at one level, and a pacifist response to militarism in general and the Vietnam War in particular.
Owen Wingrave is the last in a line of a family of proud and glorious soldiers - portraits of his ancestors adorn the walls of his family pile. Owen is being tutored in the art of war by Spencer Coyle, who runs a military cramming establishment, ahead of embarking on a traditional career in the military.
But instead of being inspired by the tales of his ancestors, Owen is appalled and vows never to join the army. Friends and family try at first to persuade Owen to change his mind. When this doesn't work, they turn on him and one by one reject him - even his intended, Kate. Owen's grandfather, General Sir Philip Wingrave, in disgust at his supposed cowardice, disinherits him. Only Coyle realises how much Wingrave spirit Owen is showing by refusing to back down from his principles.
Finally, Owen is challenged to prove his bravery in his pacifism by spending the night locked in a haunted room - a room where a Wingrave ancestor beat his own son to death for refusing to fight, before killing himself. A terrible scream is heard...
Britten's pacifism was such a deeply held conviction that it was instrumental in him leaving the UK in 1939 for the USA. He and Peter Pears experienced at first hand the shame and pressure to comply with the demands of his countrymen fighting the Nazis, so much so that Britten and Pears did return to the UK in 1942 (on a convoy in the middle of the Battle of the Atlantic!) and the two of them then went through the process of being declared Conscientious Objectors, where Britten had to present his reasons for not fighting. In his deposition to the War Board who decided such applications, he stated "The whole of my life has been devoted to acts of creation and I cannot take part in acts of destruction". Fast forward to the late 60's and with the war in Vietnam being in the news every day, it's not surprising that Britten should once again be drawn to this subject matter in Owen Wingrave.
Britten originally composed the opera for television; this Royal Opera production from 2007 used a version for reduced orchestra by David Matthews.
Presented by Penny Gore, who follows Owen Wingrave with well-loved music from another Britten opera, played by this week's featured orchestra, the BBC Philharmonic.
Owen, the last of the Wingraves - Jacques Imbrailo (baritone),
Spencer Coyle - Steven Page (bass-baritone),
Lechmere, Owen's friend - Thomas Walker (tenor),
Miss Wingrave, Owen's aunt - Vivian Tierney (soprano),
Mrs Coyle - Elizabeth Woollett (soprano),
Mrs Julian - Jennifer Rhys-Davies (soprano),
Kate, her daughter - Allison Cook (mezzo soprano),
General Sir Philip Wingrave, Owen's grandfather - Richard Berkeley-Steele (tenor),
Narrator - Toby Spence (tenor),
Students of Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School, Kensington,
Members of the City of London Sinfonia,
Rory Macdonald (conductor).
4pm
Britten: Four Sea interludes, from Peter GrimesBBC Philharmonic,
Yutaka Sado (conductor).

AO3

Ulisee All'isola Di Circe

20130314

As part of Radio 3's Baroque Spring, today's Opera Matinee is a rare chance to hear a performance of Italian composer Giuseppe Zamponi's Ulisse all'isola di Circe from Liege, Belgium. Written for Brussels in 1650 to celebrate the wedding of Philip IV of Spain and Mary Ann of Austria, the opera is about Osysseus' wanderings after the Trojan War, and includes many of the gods of Olympus. The opera was a great success at the time, but fell out of the repertoire. This performance was given in a performing version by Clematis, an ensemble which specialises in rediscovering unknown 17th century music.
Presented by Katie Derham.
Zamponi: Ulisse all'isola di Circe
Circe - Céline Scheen (soprano),
Ulisse - Furio Zanasi (baritone),
Venere - Mariana Flores (soprano),
Argesta - Dominique Visse (countertenor),
Mercurio / Apollo - Zachary Wilder (tenor),
Euriloco / Tritone primo / Statua Seconda - Fernando Guimarães (tenor),
Nettuno - Sergio Foresti (bass),
Giove - Matteo Bellotto (bass),
Satiro - Fabian Schofrin (countertenor),
Cappella Mediterranea
Namur Chamber Chorus
Clematis
Leonardo García-Alarcón (conductor).

AO3

Verdi 200 - I Masnadieri

20130328

Giuseppe Verdi only wrote one opera specifically for London: 'I masnadieri' - 'The Bandits'. Based on a play by the great German dramatist Friedrich Schiller, no less, it had a triumphant premiere with the famous soprano Jenny Lind as the heroine before an audience led by Queen Victoria... and it's flopped ever since. Here's your chance to find out whether that fate is deserved, in a production from the Fenice Theatre in Venice.
Presented by Louise Fryer. Plus, after the opera, motets for Holy Week by J S Bach's predecessors in the job of Cantor at St Thomas's church in Leipzig - as part of Radio 3's Baroque Spring.
Thursday Opera Matinee: Verdi 200
Verdi: I masnadieri
Carlo, elder son of Count Massimiliano - Andeka Gorrotxategui (tenor),
Amalia, his beloved - Maria Agresta (soprano),
Francesco, Carlo's wicked younger brother - Artur Rucinski (baritone),
Massimiliano, Count Moor - Giacomo Prestia (bass),
Arminio, the Count's servant - Cristiano Olivieri (tenor),
Rolla, a bandit - Dionigi D'Ostuni (baritone),
Moser, a priest - Cristian Saitta (bass),
La Fenice Chorus and Orchestra,
Daniele Rustioni (conductor).
4.05pm
J Schelle: Christus ist des Gesetzes Ende
BBC Singers,
Conductor David Hill,
Stephen Farr (organ).
Johann Kuhnau: Tristis est anima mea

AO3

Verdi 200 - Otello

20130404

Verdi 200: Otello
Verdi's great late Shakespearean masterpiece is set against the background of the Venetian Republic's struggles against the Ottoman empire. Appropriately then, this performance was recorded at the city's Teatro La Fenice. Gregory Kunde takes the title role of the respected moorish general in the Venetian army whose downfall is his jealousy. Lucio Gallo sings the manipulative Iago who is determined to destroy his nemesis and Leah Crocetto, Otello's loyal but doomed wife Desdemona.
Verdi: Otello
Otello, a Moorish general in the Venetian army....Gregory Kunde (tenor),
Desdemona, his wife....Leah Crocetto (soprano),
Iago, Otello's ensign....Lucio Gallo (baritone),
Emilia, wife of Iago and maid of Desdemona....Elisabetta Martorana (mezzo-soprano),
Cassio, Otello's captain....Francesco Marsiglia (tenor),
Roderigo, a gentleman of Venice....Antonello Ceron (tenor),
Lodovico, ambassador of the Venetian Republic....Mattia Denti (bass),
Montano, former Governor of Cyprus....Matteo Ferrara (bass)
La Fenice Chorus
Piccoli Cantori Veneziani
La Fenice Orchestra
Myung-Whun Chung (conductor).

AO3

Rossini - La Scala Di Seta

20130411

Mozart: PiaThursday Opera Matinee: Jonathan Swain presents a rarely heard one-act comic opera by Gioacchino Rossini with a libretto by Giuseppe Maria Foppa: La scala di seta, The Silken Ladder. The performance was given towards the end of March at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.
Rossini: La scala di seta
Daniele Zanfardino (tenor),
Olga Peretyatko (soprano),
Laura Cherici (soprano),
Bogdan Mihai (tenor),
Pietro Spagnoli (tenor),
Luca Tittoto (bass),
Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic,
Alessandro De Marchi (conductor).
3.30pm
Following the opera, this week's featured orchestra, the BBC Philharmonic, returns with more music by centenary composer Benjamin Britten - a brand new recording of his only Piano Concerto. Plus songs by the Viennese composer Britten wanted to study with (but his parents and the Royal College of Music wouldn't let him): Alban Berg. And tomorrow you can hear the BBC Philharmonic back in Vienna.
Britten: Piano Concerto, Op. 13
Howard Shelley (piano),
BBC Philharmonic,
Edward Gardner (conductor).
Berg: Altenberg Lieder
Ruby Hughes (soprano),
John Storgards (conductor).no Trio in G, K496; Quintet for piano and winds, K452.

AO3

Honegger - Judith

20130418

Thursday Opera Matinee. With Louise Fryer. Honegger's "Judith".
Honegger had great sucess in Paris between the wars with his 'dramatic psalm' "Le Roi David" - "King David" - and in 1926 he collaborated with the same librettist, Rene Morax, to produce another work that is half opera, half oratorio, based on the Old Testament story of Judith and Holofernes. We only hear Judith (mezzo Paula Murrihy) and her servant (soprano Marie-Eve Munger) discussing the deed of decapitating the barbarian chief Holofernes, so there's not much onstage action, but the sound world Honegger creates suggests far more...
Plus complementary twentieth-century music from the BBC's orchestras.
Honegger: Judith
Judith - Paula Murrihy (mezzo-soprano)
Servant - Marie-Eve Munger (soprano)
Narrator - Liesbeth List
Olivia Vermeulen (mezzo-soprano)
Ani Sagsyan (mezzo-soprano)
Ludovic Provost (baritone)
Alan Belk (tenor)
Netherlands Radio Chorus
Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic
Michael Schonwandt (conductor)
c. 2.45pm
Honegger: Cantique de Paques
Marie-Eve Munger (soprano)
Paula Murrihy (mezzo-soprano)
3.00pm
Florent Schmitt: Psalm 47
Christine Buffle (soprano)
BBC National Chorus of Wales
BBC National Orchestra of Wales
Thierry Fischer (conductor)
3.30pm
Ravel: Sheherezade
Clara Mouriz (mezzo-soprano)
BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
Clark Rundell (conductor)
3.50pm
Stravinsky: Jeu de cartes
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Ilan Volkov (conductor).

AO3

Verdi 200: Macbeth

20130425

Katie Derham presents the highly acclaimed 2011 Royal Opera House production of the first of Verdi's three Shakespeare-inspired operas.
When witches prophesy that Macbeth will be made thane of Cawdor and eventually King of Scotland, they unleash in him a turmoil of anticipation and misery. But Lady Macbeth suffers none of her husband's uncertainty. She covets the kingship for him and is prepared to go to any length to obtain it.
Verdi: Macbeth
Macbeth - Simon Keenlyside (baritone)
Lady Macbeth - Liudmyla Monastyrska (soprano)
Banquo - Raymond Aceto (bass)
Macduff - Dmitri Pittas (tenor)
Malcolm - Steven Ebel (tenor)
Lady-In-Waiting - Elizabeth Meister (soprano)
Orchestra and Chorus of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden
Antonio Pappano (conductor).

AO3

Thursday Opera Matinee - Wagner 200: Bbc Sso In Wagner's Tristan

20130502

Thursday Opera Matinee
The BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra's epic journey through Wagner's Tristan and Isolde continues this afternoon with Act 2 - including the famous love duet, interrupted at its climax by Isolde's cuckolded husband (and Tristan's friend) King Mark. Their concert at Edinburgh's Usher Hall started with forbidden love, too, in Berlioz's music inspired by Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.
Plus continuing this week's twin themes of Stravinsky from the BBC SSO and twentieth century music influenced by older music in the choral works of Italian composer Ildebrando Pizzetti.
Presented by Louise Fryer.
Berlioz: Romeo and Juliet - Suite from the Dramatic Symphony
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra,
Conductor Donald Runnicles.
2.25pm
Wagner: Tristan and Isolde, Act 2
Isolde - Nina Stemme (soprano)
Tristan - Ian Storey (tenor)
Brangäne - Jane Irwin (mezzo)
King Mark - Peter Rose (soprano)
Melot - Andrew Rees (tenor)
Kurwenal - Mikhail Pavlov (baritone)
3.40pm
Ildebrando Pizzetti: 2 composizioni corali
BBC Singers,
Conductor Paul Brough.
3.50pm
Stravinsky: Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra
Steven Osborne (piano),
Conductor Ilan Volkov.

AO3

Thursday Opera Matinee

20130509

Presented by Penny Gore
Karl Amadeus Hartmann was one of the few German composers to emerge untainted by any association with the Third Reich at the end of the Second World War. Born in Munich, he was a committed socialist all his life which informed his every creative move. His opera Simplicius Simplicissimus was based on a 17th-century novel by Grimmelshausen about a young boy's reactions to the horrors of the 30 Years' War. This original chamber orchestra version was written in the mid 1930s, when Hartmann could see the threat of war very clearly on the horizon. Hartmann's teacher, the conductor Hermann Scherchen, provided much of the libretto. It opens "In A.D. 1618, 12 million lived in Germany. Then came the great war (...) In A.D. 1648 only 4 million still lived in Germany"
Giovanni Antonini leads members of the Bavarian RSO from the recorder in Bach's fourth Brandenburg Concerto, and today's Beethoven Symphony is his fourth, the Adagio second movement of which so impressed Hector Berlioz that he claimed it was the work of the Archangel Michael.
Hartmann: Simplicius Simplicissimus, original version
Simplicius Simplicissimus - Juliane Banse (soprano)
Hermit - Will Hartmann (tenor)
Governor - Peter Marsch (tenor)
Mercenary - Ashley Holland (baritone)
Farmer - Kristof Klorek (bass)
Captain - Michael Eder (bass)
Narrator - Harry Peters
Netherlands Radio Chorus
Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra
Markus Stenz (conductor)
3.35pm
Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No.4 BWV 1049
Tobias Steymans (violin)
Giovanni Antonini & Lorenzo Cavasanti (recorders)
Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
Giovanni Antonini (conductor)
3.50pm
Beethoven: Symphony No. 4 in B flat, Op. 60
Mariss Jansons (conductor).

AO3

Rachmaninov - Aleko

20130516

With Katie Derham.
Rachmaninov's student opera 'Aleko' is effectively his graduation exercise, a tale of jealous love and life set in a gipsy camp. Its series of cameos won Rachmaninov Tchaikovsky's friendship (among others), and launched his career as a composer. Gianandrea Noseda brings it to life in his native country of Italy with the BBC Philharmonic, and a cast of leading Russian soloists. Recorded in the RAI Auditorium in Turin.
After it, we hear the BBC Philharmonic - this week's featured orchestra - in a rapturously received performance given last year in Zagreb; Chief Conductor, Juanjo Mena, directs them in Mahler's epic Fifth Symphony.
Rachmaninov: Aleko
Aleko - Sergey Murzaev (baritone)
Young Gypsy - Evgheny Akimov (tenor)
Old Gypsy - Gennadi Bezzubenkov (bass)
Zemfira - Svetla Vassileva (soprano)
Old Gypsy Woman - Nadeshda Vassilieva (mezzo-soprano)
Chorus of the Teatro Regio, Turin,
BBC Philharmonic,
Gianandrea Noseda (conductor).
2.55pm
Mahler: Symphony No 5
Juanjo Mena (conductor).

Afternoon On 3

20120503

Katie Derham presents a memorable performance of Elgar's oratorio "The Apostles," recorded at King's College Cambridge at Easter. David Wilson-Johnson is Judas, as Elgar would have it: "An apostle misunderstood."
Elgar: The Apostles
Ailish Tynan (Blessed Virgin / Angel Gabriel)
Susan Bickley (Mary Magdalene)
Timothy Robinson (St John / Narrator)
Mark Stone (St Peter)
Roderick Williams (Jesus)
David Wilson-Johnson (Judas)
Ben Sau Lau (organ)
Philharmonia Chorus
BBC Concert Orchestra
Stephen Cleobury (conductor).

Afternoon On 3

20120510

Louise Fryer continues a week of performances from Berlin with Acts 1 & 2 of Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg in a highl acclaimed production form the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra and Chorus conducted by Marek Janowski. Act 3 will be broadcast in tomorrow's Afternoon on 3.
c.2.00pm
Wagner: Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg, Acts 1 & 2
Hans Sachs....Albert Dohmen (baritone)
Veit Pogner....Georg Zeppenfeld (bass)
Kunz Vogelgesang....Clemens Bieber (tenor)
Konrad Nachtigall....Sebastian Noack (bass)
Sixtus Beckmesser....Dietrich Henschel (bass)
Fritz Kothner....Detlef Roth (bass)
Balthasar Zorn....Timothy Fallon (tenor)
Ulrich Eisslinger....Tobias Ebenstein (tenor)
Augustin Moser....Thorsten Scharnke (tenor)
Hermann Ortel....Tobias Berndt (bass)
Hans Schwarz....Greg Ryerson (bass)
Hans Foltz....Kouta Rasanen (bass)
Walther von Stolzing....Robert Dean Smith (tenor)
David....Christoph Strehl (tenor)
Eva....Edith Haller (soprano)
Magdalena....Michelle Breedt (soprano)
Nightwatchman....Matti Salminen (bass).
Berlin Radio Chorus
Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra
Marek Janowski (conductor).

02 Hours 30 Minutes
02 Hours 30 Minutes
02 Hours 30 Minutes
03 Hours
02 Hours 30 Minutes
02 Hours 30 Minutes
03 Hours
02 Hours 30 Minutes

Duration

Genre

Advertising